Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan on Sunday for a two-day visit, despite Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into the southern Russian region of Kursk.
Putin was welcomed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the international airport in Baku.
After a joint dinner, the two leaders held informal talks, the Russian state-run TASS news agency reported.
The Kremlin said ahead of the trip that the Putin and Aliyev plan to sign several agreements on expanding their countries’ strategic partnership.
Aliyev, like Putin, is an authoritarian leader who has been criticized for serious human rights violations. He last visited Moscow in April.
Putin is expected to comment on peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, following years of conflict over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Baku seized in 2023.
Russia has traditionally been seen as close to Armenia but it refused to intervene on Yerevan’s side.
Azerbaijan, an oil-rich republic on the Caspian Sea, is an important supplier of energy for the European Union.
