Russia arms sales to Azerbaijan is put at $4bn

President Ilham Aliyev announced the figure on Tuesday after holding talks in Azerbaijani capital of Baku with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which a wide range of bilateral collaboration in fields such as trade, energy and transportation were also discussed, RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.
 
Aliyev further expressed hope that the “growing trend” of military collaboration between Moscow and Baku would continue.
 
    Azerbaijan, the report adds, is among the top customers of Russian weaponry, which Aliyev described on Tuesday as “the best in the world.”
 
 
The state-owned oil companies of the two countries also agreed on Tuesday to establish a joint venture, on a parity basis, to produce oil and gas in Russia and Azerbaijan as well as other countries.
 
During Putin’s visit, Russia’s state oil giant Rosneft signed a deal with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) to jointly utilized some pipelines and terminals “to optimize supplies to consumers,” according to the report.
 
The two state oil companies further agreed to cooperate in marketing and sale of oil, gas and oil products.
 
“The agreements we signed today mark a new stage in our oil and natural gas co-operation,” Aliyev was cited as saying following a signing ceremony.
 
“I am certain that this co-operation will be a great success,” Aliyev reportedly added.
 
According to the report, Azerbaijan delivered 1.55 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Russia.
 
This is while bilateral trade and cooperation is also set to expand in military and technical spheres as well as in border operations and between the two nation’s emergencies ministries.