The steady build-up of Italy’s long-term economic partnership with Azerbaijan is adding an important geopolitical dimension to Rome’s foreign policy. Sitting on the fence, Russia is monitoring the current trade and infrastructure dynamics between Baku, Rome and the European Union. The Kremlin is always sensitive to Western maneuvering in its post-Soviet “near-abroad,” but thus far, at least, the Italian-Azerbaijani relationship is apparently not being perceived as a zero-sum game by the Russian authorities.
Italy recently intensified its cooperation with Azerbaijan by focusing on opportunities in the latter’s energy export–dominated economy and by putting aside objections to Baku’s poor human rights record. …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation