Yeni Azerbaijan MP equated responsibility of Russia, the West and Ukraine

Baku/28.02.22/Turan: Following Russia's attack on Ukraine, Western states have imposed sanctions against Russia and its leadership and these measures are expanding.

Rallies in support of Ukraine are taking place in many countries around the world. Yesterday a mass rally was also held in front of the Ukrainian Embassy in Baku.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, ordered that Russian deterrence forces, including nuclear weapons, be placed on "special alert". He stated his decision was in response to "aggressive statements" by NATO leaders.

How will all these developments affect the democratisation processes in the region?

Elman Nasirov, a member of the Milli Majlis committee on human rights and an MP from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, commenting on the issue to Turan agency noted that the worst-case scenario for Russia's relations with Ukraine and the West was coming true. "Today there is a real war in the heart of Europe," he said.

To his thinking, the war could lead to severe economic consequences.

"Russia is the sixth largest economy in the world and is an integral part of the global economy. The collapse of the Russian economy would have a very negative impact on the global economy. Because the relationship here is mutual," Nasirov said.

According to him, the situation could have been resolved peacefully, through negotiations. "However, this has not happened. All parties are responsible for the ongoing processes - Russia, Ukraine and the West," Nasirov said.

In Nasirov's opinion, in many cases the democracy is used as a cover to achieve camouflaged goals. "There is a lot of rhetoric about democracy in the US. But in 1998, US-led NATO bombed the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. They wanted to bring democracy there too. But can you bring democracy with missiles? Yugoslavia was bombed for 78 days and many civilians were killed," Nasirov said.

He noted that in 2003, without a UN Security Council resolution, a war was launched in Iraq resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Have rockets brought democracy to Iraq? Even now, against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and the confrontation between Russia and the West, the democracy is actually being suppressed. It is quite obvious for what purposes the great powers are using the democracy. Human rights have become an instrument of interference in the internal affairs of countries," Nasirov said.

He stressed that the position of the Azerbaijani state is to resolve this conflict peacefully within the framework of international law and the territorial integrity of states.

Human rights activist Anar Mammadli believes that the issues of national security as well as the security of Europe are of paramount importance. "At the same time there are humanitarian problems. The topicality of these issues is more important than other issues," Mammadli said.

However, in his view, the expansion initiated by Vladimir Putin has shown how dangerous undemocratic regimes are. "They also pose a threat to the democracy of their neighbours. Russia now poses a threat to the fragile democracies of our region," Mammadli observed.

The expert believes that the current sanctions against Russia should have been imposed in time, not only because of Russia's attempts to invade Ukraine but also because of Putin's anti-human and anti-democratic repression in Russia. "Should Putin have been appeased, he would not have expanded his power. These sanctions should not be applied strictly in the context of war, but only in the context of human rights and democracy."

For then, Putin would not have felt so confident, nor would he have increased his power. These sanctions should not have been imposed in the context of war, but purely in terms of the trampling of human rights and democracy," Mammadli believes. -06В-