The Azerbaijani president's foreign policy aide, Hikmat Hajiyev, has described Azerbaijani-Russian relations as a strategic partnership and said that the two countries' leaders have played a crucial role in this.

Hajiyev made the remarks at the first session of a newly-created Russian-Azerbaijani Expert Council in Baku.

The session has been organised jointly by the International Relations Research Centre under the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration and the Russian International Affairs Council. Apart from Hajiyev, the session was attended by the director-general of the International Affairs Council Andrei Kortunov, the chairman of the board of the International Relations Research Centre Farid Shafiyev, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov, and Azerbaijani Ambassador-at-Large Elsad Isgandarov.

Speaking at the session via video conferencing, Kortunov said that "responsible decisions" should be made regarding the South Caucasus region, noting that "political adventurism and irresponsibility lead to wars and human deaths." Kortunov also said that apart from Russia, Turkey, and Iran, extra-regional countries like the USA, the EU, China, and Gulf states were trying to play an active role in the region.

Ambassador Bocharnikov praised the new cooperation format between Azerbaijani and Russian experts as an important part of the 3+3 platform (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia plus Iran, Turkey, Russia).

A similar meeting of Iranian, Azerbaijani, and Turkish research centres was held in Baku in September.

Later on 19 November, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met members of the Russian-Azerbaijani Expert Council.

"At the meeting, Minister Jeyhun Bayramov spoke about issues on the Azerbaijani-Russian bilateral agenda, as well as about mutually beneficial cooperation and strategic partnership relations," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.