Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to visit Azerbaijan on Sunday, despite Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into the southern Russian region of Kursk.
The two-day visit is expected to include talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the countries’ strategic partnership.
The Kremlin said ahead of the trip that the two leaders plan to sign several agreements on expanding cooperation.
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.
