Ilham Aliyev and his red lines Afterword to President's speech/VIDEO

The red lines not to be crossed are, perhaps, the main message of the speech of the President of Azerbaijan at the government session held on July 15. Ilham Aliyev outlined in detail and objectively Baku's stance on the settlement of the situation and peaceful dialogue in Karabakh and indicated the problems to be solved immediately. The addressees of this message were clearly specified - Armenia and Russia. That means that those who were making grand promises at the end of the 44-day war should start keeping them, not just imitating them.

Talking about new important steps taken in the foreign policy direction and increasing of international prestige of the country, Ilham Aliyev said it was also clear what was causing Azerbaijan legitimate concerns. He did so with his usual diplomatic sensitivity, but firmly and harshly, making it clear that he does not want to get into those topics again, but he has to. Because, unfortunately, Armenia and Russia sometimes listen to the Azerbaijani statements very reluctantly, and sometimes even pretend to be paralyzed, both in power and in executive bodies.

As the Azerbaijani leader emphasized, despite the fact that almost two years have passed since the end of the Patriotic War, Armenia still does not fulfill its obligations. "In fact, we are witnessing Armenia's evasion from the issues enshrined in the Declaration signed on November 10, 2020," the president said, stressing the word "evasion" because this is exactly what official Yerevan is doing now, reminiscent of some theatrical staging, where they talk a lot about something, but do something completely different.

The withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Karabakh is the most obvious unresolved issue. The president immediately points to the perpetrators of such a "no-action" - both Yerevan and Moscow. It is easy to see that Aliyev's reaction clearly demonstrates Azerbaijan's attitude to the situation, which is, in principle, the same thing. It is quite obvious that the head of our state is dissatisfied with what is happening - if before he diplomatically stressed Russia's failure to fulfill its mediation and peacemaking functions, the day before he openly and unambiguously pointed to the problem ignored by Moscow, demanding its immediate resolution.

In this context, Ilham Aliyev recalled that the Russian side also signed the Declaration of November 10. "But it does not force Armenia to do so," he added. Based on those words, one is tempted to ask how long will Moscow stay passive, when everything is clear here.

President Aliyev also highlighted an important point: Baku had repeatedly put the question about the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from Karabakh to the Russian military leadership. A high-ranking Russian Defence Ministry official in Azerbaijan even assured that it would happen before June. The President did not specify any names delicately but according to Caliber.Az the Russian military officer who was giving out such promises was Colonel General Aleksey Kim, Deputy Commander of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation for Peace-Keeping Activities.

During his visit to Baku, the Russian general met with Colonel General Kerim Veliyev, First Deputy Defence Minister and Chief of General Staff of Azerbaijan, and, in particular, discussed the operational situation in the zone of temporary deployment of Russian peacekeepers.

"In accordance with paragraph 4 of the statement of November 10, 2020, the parties held a detailed exchange of views on the withdrawal of illegal Armenian armed groups from the territory of Azerbaijan and a number of other issues," the Defence Ministry reports noted at the time.

However, to all appearances, the words of Russian generals today do not meet the actions.

Well, now Russia is clearly nervous, in any case, the Russian media reacted to the president's fair rebuke with lightning speed. Thus, almost immediately after the speech of the Azerbaijani President, Kommersant newspaper splashed an article titled "Aliyev accuses Russian Defence Ministry of not fulfilling promise on Karabakh." This, perhaps, should be regarded as the expected reaction of Moscow, because the President of Azerbaijan was quite accurate while speaking on this topic.

"Of course, this situation is unbearable, because the presence of Armenian military units on the territory of Azerbaijan is absolutely unacceptable," the president said, and this remark should be especially taken into account in Moscow. And it should be remembered that no more empty promises should be given out. And when Ilham Aliyev further stated that if Armenia does not want to withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan, "let them say it openly so we know what to do" - that was a clear message to Yerevan that it is time to get out of hibernation and get down to business.

The President has also emphasized Baku's red lines on another obvious issue: in the Declaration of November 10, our country has committed itself to the establishing Lachin corridor, the security of which Azerbaijan guarantees. But Armenia also pledged to establish transport communication from the western regions of Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan - however, the fulfillment of this promise has been tightly suspended, and apparently, is deliberately blocked by the Armenian side. And Armenia is playing around with this topic in both ways - i.e. the play with the same scenario: a bunch of actors in makeup endlessly complaining about something that does not exist.

The fact that the President pointed out the specific details of the corridor creation process, which was absurdly delayed, suggests that the Armenians are again playing tactical games or, more simply, dragging their heels.

Until now, as the President says, there is still no feasibility study of the railroad to be built on the Meghri section of the Zangazur corridor. And without a feasibility study, as you know, no project can be implemented, while its preparation for the construction of the railroad requires several months.

"So, this work has not started yet," Aliyev draws a logical conclusion. In fact, there are no works on any of Armenia's transport commitments, including the road within the Zangazur corridor, the project of which has not yet been submitted to Azerbaijan.

Another element of "Armenian games" which causes justified irritation in Baku is another attempt to reanimate the peculiar "mummy themes". It is the talks about the "status" and the Minsk Group, heard again from Yerevan. It seems that this demagogy should have ended long ago, which is not even a laughing matter. After all, the patriarch of Russian diplomacy Lavrov himself has repeatedly declared the death of the Minsk Group as a format of international mediators, since Russia, the US, and France have already stopped cooperating. But the issue is raised again and again by Armenia in various meetings. It makes me want to ask: "Are you serious?".

Therefore, the President clearly and unequivocally states the duplicity of the Armenian position: "Armenia accepts our five principles, recognizes them - among them are mutual recognition of territorial integrity, the rejection of territorial claims to each other and other provisions - and, on the other hand, - the Minsk Group is supposed to do something. Then the question is: what should it be doing? The Karabakh conflict is resolved, and the Karabakh issue is closed. Karabakh is Azerbaijan, I said this, and I said it rightly, everyone says this now". And with this statement, Ilham Aliyev closes two topics at once.

In the meantime, the President is obviously not in the mood to aggravate and fill everything with negativity as much as possible – he still hopes for positive breakthroughs. So it is no coincidence that he notes he is looking forward to the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries and its results. A lot depends on it, in his opinion.

"That is why we see it, fix and warn. And let everyone, as they say, draw their own conclusions from our warning. That's all for now on this matter," the President stressed.

And that is probably the most succinct message to all those involved in the process. Listen, then, if you have ears!