On October 8, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was interviewed by Rossiya-1 TV channel in Moscow.
Correspondent: Recently, you spoke quite directly about American sanctions against Azerbaijan. As is known, Russia is currently under the pressure of thousands of sanctions. In your opinion, does the policy of sanctions have any prospects at all?
President Ilham Aliyev: It has no right to exist at all, especially when these sanctions are illegal and imposed completely unjustifiably and selectively. Therefore, we categorically oppose all sanctions, and I believe that the international community should collectively express its position. We express this position in our national capacity regarding the sanctions imposed on us, and not only on us.
Sanctions were imposed on us in 1992 based on the fabricated accusation that we were blocking Armenia, at a time when our territories were under Armenian occupation. These sanctions were lifted in 2001 when the United States needed to transit its goods by air, land, and sea to Afghanistan through the territory of Azerbaijan. Every year, the President of the United States, regardless of party affiliation, waived these sanctions by his decision, until the moment when the United States fled Afghanistan. After that, these sanctions were reimposed on us. When I accused them of ingratitude, I believe that this is not the harshest term that can be used in this context.