The meeting between Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev takes place on Tuesday taking into account restrictions. The leaders maintain a social distance, sitting on opposite sides of a long oval table in the representative office of the Kremlin's first building.
"Unfortunately, this pandemic prevents us from communicating and meeting normally," Putin said with a laugh as he greeted Aliyev. The Russian president stressed that he was still happy to see his Azerbaijani counterpart.
"Thank you for accepting the invitation. Your visit comes on the eve of a notable event in our bilateral relations - the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and today we will sign a declaration on allied cooperation," Putin continued, calling it a new stage in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani relations.
Putin observed a similar epidemiological distance of several meters during his recent talks with several other leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Aliyev arrived in Moscow the day before. His visit will not be limited to talks with the Russian president. In particular, on February 23 the president is expected to visit a joint photo exhibition of TASS and Azerbaijani agency AzerTAc dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, and meet with heads of leading Russian media in the club of chief editors of TASS.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS