BAKU. – Azerbaijan’s Presidential Chief of Staff Ramiz Mehdiyev paid a secret trip to Moscow, on Tuesday.

Mehdiyev’s trip was secret, and no official information was provided, Azadliq newspaper of Azerbaijan writes, referring to its reliable sources.  

“According to analysts, Mehdiyev’s secret trip is linked to the processes in Azerbaijan, specifically the Nabucco [natural gas pipeline] Project. The West is exerting serious efforts to bring this project to fruition, in a short amount of time. At present, pressures are applied to Azerbaijan, on the presidential level, to implement this project. 

Solely Russia is against this project because it is convinced that, if Nabucco is carried out, it would lose its influence on the South Caucasus. [And] As a result of its concerns, the Kremlin quickly summoned to Moscow Ramiz Mehdiyev, “its man” in Azerbaijan. Or, Mehdiyev is now in a complex situation for being a mediator in reducing Russia’s pressure exerted on Azerbaijan,” Azadliq writes.