Category: Azer News

On June 23, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov posed for a photo against the backdrop of Dashalti village in the Shusha district, AzerNEWS reports.

Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula overnight into June 23, AzerNEWS reports, citing Russian and Ukrainian media outlets.

The media outlets informs one of the strikes targeted a thermal power plant located in the Arshintsevo district of Kerch.

According to available information, a major fire broke out at the facility, resulting in widespread power outages across parts of the peninsula. Reports indicated that nearly half of Crimea was left without electricity following the attack.

Satellite imagery also reportedly detected a smoke plume stretching approximately 47 kilometers from the affected area.

The Crimea-installed authorities attributed the power outages to what they described as ‘technological disruptions’ in the electricity grid. Officials said efforts were underway to restore power supplies within 24 hours.

In a separate incident, Ukrainian drone strikes reportedly sparked a fire at the Nasosnaya-2 substation in the Sovetsky district. Residents later reported that the TES-Terminal petroleum storage complex had also come under attack.

Sources further indicated that the Port Kavkaz facility was targeted, triggering a fire at a nearby oil storage site. Videos purportedly showing the aftermath of the strike quickly circulated on social media platforms.

The Crimean Wind monitoring group, citing satellite data, reported multiple fire outbreaks across the peninsula, particularly in the vicinity of Port Kavkaz.

Additional fires were reported near the entrance to Kerch, at the Yuzhnaya railway station, and close to the settlement of Bagerovo. Authorities temporarily suspended traffic on the Kerch Bridge and issued a drone threat alert as a precautionary measure.

The reports could not be independently verified, and no official Ukrainian statement regarding the operation was immediately available.c

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda accepted the resignation of Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene on Tuesday, dissolving the country’s government following the reshuffle of the ruling coalition. Ruginiene’s government will stay in office until the new government is formed, AzerNEWS reports.

Nauseda’s office stated that the president will nominate a candidate to replace Ruginiene within 15 days. Social Democratic leader Mindaugas Sinkevicius is the designated nominee for the role.

If the Lithuanian government’s legislative branch, the Seimas, approves the candidate, he or she will have up to 15 additional days to form the new government.

On June 23, the Baku Court of Appeal continued hearings on the appeals filed by citizens of the Republic of Armenia – Araik Harutyunyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, David Ishkhanyan, David Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, and others, AzerNEWS reports.

They were convicted by the Baku Military Court of crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes committed as a result of Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan, including the preparation and waging of aggressive war, genocide, violations of the laws and customs of war, terrorism, financing of terrorism, violent seizure of power, and numerous other crimes.

The court session, presided over by Judge Elmar Rahimov of the Baku Court of Appeal, with judges Emin Mehdiyev and Mehriban Garayeva participating (reserve judge – Ali Mammadov), provided each defendant with interpreters fluent in the languages they speak – Armenian and Russian – as well as lawyers to ensure their defense.

The session was also attended by representatives of the victims and state prosecutors – Abbas Abbasli, Head of the Department for Maintaining State Prosecution at the General Prosecutor’s Office, along with prosecutors Anar Alakbarov and Sevinj Gasimova from the same department.

The session began with Levon Mnatsakanyan continuing his defense speech, which he had started a week earlier. He asked the court to take into account the video materials and facts presented by the prosecution when making its decision. He stated that he does not plead guilty to the charges brought against him.

Next, the lawyer defending Erik Kazaryan spoke. The lawyer informed the court that his client had filed an appeal and fully supported it. Erik Kazaryan, who spoke afterward, stated that he does not consider himself guilty and confirmed the position presented by his defense counsel.

This was followed by the lawyer for Garik Martirosyan, who requested the mitigation of the charges against his client. Another defense lawyer for G. Martirosyan also asked the court to reduce the punishment and exclude certain articles from the charges.

Garik Martirosyan then addressed the court, stating that he does not plead guilty.

The lawyer for Levon Balayan requested an acquittal for his client. Levon Balayan expressed agreement with his lawyer’s statement.

The lawyer defending Gurgen Stepanyan asked the court to overturn the conviction and issue an acquittal. G. Stepanyan agreed with his lawyer’s position and stated that he does not consider himself guilty.

The next court session is scheduled for June 30.

According to the verdict of the Baku Military Court dated February 5, 2026, Araik Harutyunyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, David Manukyan, David Ishkhanyan, and David Babayan were sentenced to life imprisonment. Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan were sentenced to 20 years, Madat Babayan and Melikset Pashayan to 19 years, Garik Martirosyan to 18 years, David Alaverdyan and Levon Balayan to 16 years, and Vasily Beglaryan, Gurgen Stepanyan, and Erik Kazaryan to 15 years each.

Caspian Waves 2026 International Watercolor Festival has been held in Baku, remembered for its rich program and large-scale participation of artists from different countries, AzerNEWS reports.

The main goals of the festival were the development of watercolor art, the expansion of international cultural cooperation, and the strengthening of creative ties among artists.

The Caspian Waves 2026 festival concluded successfully, presenting Baku as one of the important centers of international watercolor art.

The festival opened at the Khatai Arts Center with a solemn ceremony. A musical program was held, along with artistic performances by local and foreign artists. Representatives of different countries worked together in a single creative space, demonstrating the unifying power of watercolor art.

Later, the Azerbaijan National Art Museum hosted the international exhibition. The exposition featured 165 watercolor works by more than 80 artists from 30 countries around the world.

Participants included festival curator and representative of the International Watercolor Society in Azerbaijan Samira Iskandar, president of the International Watercolor Society Atanur Dogan, Ambassador of India to Azerbaijan Abhay Kumar, member of the Azerbaijani Parliament and chair of the Union of Artists of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Ulviyya Hamzayeva, and director of the Khatai Arts Center Zahid Avazov.

In their speeches, they stressed the importance of the festival for international cultural dialogue.

The second day of the festival was marked by a creative trip to the Guba region and an international plein air session with about 30 local and foreign artists. The third day began with an open-air plein air in the historic center of Baku – Icherisheher. Artists worked among architectural monuments, capturing the atmosphere of the Old City in watercolor works.

The festival concluded at the Khazar Media Center with a closing ceremony and final exhibition.

Host Khadija Hamidli welcomed the guests. Speeches were delivered by festival curator Samira Iskandar, Atanur Dogan, Zahid Avazov, and other participants, who noted the high level of organization and significance of the event.

Special thanks were expressed to X?z?r TV director Murad Dadashov for his support and for providing the venue for the closing ceremony.

The event ended with a video presentation reflecting the three-day festival program.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az and Milli.Az.

Development finance conferences mostly provide two pieces of news: the figure that is released in the press release itself, and the transactions behind it. The 51st Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group, which has ended in Baku after four days of conference, did so too.

While the figure – $4.7 billion worth of agreements and memoranda signed at the Private Sector Forum, compared to $3.6 billion of last year’s corresponding conference, is actual and amounts to a rise of 30%, the transactions behind it say more than the total itself: Karabagh irrigation canal, SOCAR private equity partnership, SME financing facility for Azerbaijani commercial bank, sovereign debt capacity building and ten-year country strategy framework which did not exist before.

Signed agreements sector-by-sector

AGREEMENTPARTIESVALUESIGNIFICANCE

Reconstruction of Karabakh Irrigation CanalIsDB + Government of AzerbaijanUndisclosed loan + grant componentsFirst IsDB-financed project in the liberated territories; canal to supply ~200,000 hectares of agricultural land once completed alongside Shirvan Canal

Country Partnership Strategy MoUMinistry of Economy + IsDBMulti-year strategic frameworkAzerbaijan’s first formal partnership strategy with IsDB since joining in 1992; governs pipeline of water, railway, road and agricultural projects including in Alat FEZ and liberated territories

SOCAR – ICD PPP Financing MoUSOCAR + Islamic Corp. for the Development of the Private SectorShariah-compliant PPP framework, 2026-2027Brings Islamic finance structures to Azerbaijani energy and infrastructure sector PPPs for first time at this scale; ICD provides financing for SOCAR joint venture project companies

TuranBank SME Line of FinanceTuranBank OJSC + ICD$15 million Shariah-compliant facilityDeepens decade-long relationship; total ICD commitments to TuranBank now exceed $33 million across four transactions; funds deployed to eligible SMEs through TuranBank’s existing infrastructure

ITFC – IFC Confirming Bank AgreementITFC + International Finance CorporationRisk-sharing frameworkExpands ITFC trade finance operations across OIC member countries using IFC guarantees; cross-border trade facilitation for importers and exporters including in Caspian region

IsDB Board – $2.8bn single-session approvalsIsDB Board of Executive Directors$2.8bn across multiple member statesLargest single-session approval round at this meeting; includes pound 650.75mn for Uganda Standard Gauge Railway; reflects IsDB’s stated delivery target of $16bn annually

Alongside the formal agenda for June 18th was a meeting that merits special focus in its own right. President Ilham Aliyev met with a delegation that consisted of heads of all the member institutions of the Arab Coordination Group, an organization made up of development funds of the Arab world, as well as the finance ministers of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The ACG has loaned to more than 13,000 development projects across 160 countries since 1975. Seven heads of development institutions and two finance ministers of the Gulf states at one bilateral meeting of Azerbaijan is a conglomeration of development capital from Arab sources not usually found except in the margins of the G20. Economy Minister Jabbarov stated that “Azerbaijan and ACG are working on ‘multi-billion dollar pipeline of projects in water, railways, and roads’ – a direct correlation to the infrastructural requirements of the agricultural initiative and of Karabakh reconstruction program.” The discussion ended with the presentation of the Dostlug Order of Azerbaijan to Al Jasser by President Ilham Aliyev, for his having traveled to the liberated regions twice, which is an unusual gesture for a head of a multilateral organization.

The logic and the potential

President Ilham Aliyev gave the most straightforward rationale for Azerbaijan’s return to borrowing through multilateral agencies despite the fact that it is a nation endowed with $85 billion in sovereign reserves and boasts the lowest ratio of foreign debt in the world (6%) of its GDP. “When we realized we were able to start borrowing once more,” he said, “the very first financial institution we turned to was the Islamic Development Bank, owing to our close relationship, our common history.” The move to start borrowing, though in moderation, and choosing the organization with which it shares the longest ties, is an acknowledgment that borrowing for development projects not only provides money but also a range of other advantages.

The most immediate example of the above point is the Karabakh irrigation canal agreement. Azerbaijan has already made a commitment of over $17 billion for the reconstruction of Karabakh from all sources, out of which $15 billion comes only from the national budget. While the inclusion of the funding from IsDB in the canal construction project is not necessarily about the money, it is about the institution, the visibility of the institution at an international level, and the message that is being sent to other potential partners that multilateral institutions are participating in a reconstruction program that has been opposed by many Western governments.

These agreements reached this week, according to the description provided by Jabbarov himself, mark perhaps, the big start. By signing the Country Partnership Strategy MoU, which represents the first-of-its-kind MoU signed by Azerbaijan within 34 years of IsDB membership, Azerbaijan opens up the institutional channel for the development and approval of a project pipeline. As stated by Jabbarov, the “multi-billion dollar pipeline in water, railways, and roads” has not been agreed upon; this is an ambition to see signed agreements within the framework of future Annual Meetings. According to the acceleration seen in IsDB, which marks the $1.8 billion total approvals in 84 projects since 1992 for Azerbaijan but with tenfold growth in the Azerbaijani shareholding meaning faster rate of work, Azerbaijan will most probably see much higher rates of project approvals per year within 2026-2030.

Both the Alat Free Economic Zone and the economic regions of Karabakh and East Zangezur were specifically mentioned as potential sites for IsDB/ACG investment by Jabbarov. Both represent new ground – the Alat FEZ as an industrial and logistical platform, the liberated lands as agricultural and renewable energy land – where the tools of IsDB’s development finance (concessional loans, PPPs, trade finance, investment insurance through ICIEC) can be used to bring in private capital on a scale that public money cannot. Azerbaijan became a member of ICIEC in 2023 and has already insured $164 million in business within three years. The telecommunications sector insurance provided by ICIEC is an example of a risk mitigation instrument that helps private investment enter frontier economic zones. There is a lot more work to do here.

President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, who is on a state visit to Azerbaijan, arrived in the Fuzuli district on June 23, AzerNEWS reports.

A guard of honor was lined up at Fuzuli International Airport in honor of the President of Turkmenistan.

Serdar Berdimuhamedov was welcomed by President Ilham Aliyev.

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan is preparing to announce its next interest rate decision on June 24, which will be released as a press release tomorrow at 11:00 AM. It is worth noting that although the CBA cut interest rates by 25 basis points during its first meeting of the current year, it has adopted a wait-and-see approach in the subsequent two meetings against the backdrop of regional geopolitical tensions.

Currently, under its interest rate policy, the Central Bank maintains the policy rate at 6.5%, the lower limit of the interest rate corridor (deposit rate) at 5.5%, and the upper limit (lending rate) at 7.5%. As confirmed by the CBA itself, while this is actually a tight monetary policy, it is considered a neutral stance given the current price pressures.

Instead of declining as anticipated, inflation has shown a renewed upward trend in recent months. According to data from the State Statistical Committee, annual inflation rose from 5.5% to 5.6% in May. Although this figure remains within the Central Bank’s target band of 2%-6%, the consecutive upward revisions of inflation forecasts in February and May indicate that price pressures have not fully subsided.

According to the CBA’s latest base-case scenario from its May forecast, annual inflation is projected to remain within the target range for both the current and next years. Specifically, under the base-case scenario of the May forecasts, annual inflation is expected to reach 5.9% in 2026 and 4.5% in 2027. It is noted that the upward revision of the inflation forecast stems primarily from the activation of external cost factors. These factors include an accelerating growth rate of global food prices, intensifying inflationary pressures among trading partners, and a slowdown in the appreciation rate of the nominal effective exchange rate. A weakening of demand factors compared to the February forecast has partially neutralized the inflationary impact of supply-side factors. Overall, according to the May forecast, a significant portion of inflation is expected to be driven by supply-side factors.

Mechanically, certain points regarding economic activity over the past month remain. GDP remaining at 0.0% in annual terms in May indicates that domestic demand expanded more restrictively compared to previous periods.

On the other hand, external sector indicators have improved significantly in recent months. While foreign trade turnover increased by 10.1% year-on-year during the January-April period, the more notable highlight is the emergence of a $7 billion surplus in the country’s trade balance (the primary component of the current account balance). This figure substantially exceeds the $1.4 billion surplus recorded in the first quarter.

The rapid growth of the Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves in recent months has led to an oversupply in the foreign exchange market, prompting buy-side interventions.

Taking the aforementioned into account, AzerNEWS sought the views of economist Natig Jafarli regarding the Central Bank’s upcoming interest rate decision tomorrow. The economist said that it is highly likely that the Central Bank will keep the policy rate unchanged.

‘Considering the ongoing global inflationary processes, the central bank might not reduce the policy rate this time. However, it is very probable that they will maintain the interest rate corridor,’ economist Natig Jafarli noted.

He added that there is a high likelihood that the interest rate corridor will be kept as it is.

‘On the other hand, peace talks between Iran and the US could lead to a drop in fuel prices, which has brought some relief globally. If they do decide to cut the policy rate, it could be by 0.25 percentage points. I do not expect a reduction beyond the figure I mentioned,’ he opined.

American astronauts Christopher Williams and Jessica Meir, both members of the International Space Station (ISS) crew, are scheduled to perform a spacewalk on June 30 to carry out repairs on the Canadarm2 robotic arm, AzerNEWS reports.

This was announced by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

According to NASA, Williams and Meir will replace a hinge located in the ‘wrist’ section of the robotic manipulator after astronauts detected irregularities in its performance at the end of May. For Williams, this will be his second spacewalk, while Meir will be undertaking her fifth.

Canadarm2 is a Canadian-built robotic arm operating on the U.S. segment of the ISS. The system measures 17.6 meters in length, has seven articulated joints, and weighs approximately 1,800 kilograms. It is capable of handling payloads of up to 116,000 kilograms, playing a crucial role in station operations.

Its main functions include capturing and berthing unmanned cargo spacecraft, moving equipment and supplies along the station’s exterior, assisting with inspections, and supporting astronauts during spacewalks.

An interesting detail is that Canadarm2 is essentially the ‘workhorse’ of the ISS exterior operations-without it, routine cargo deliveries and many maintenance tasks would require significantly more risky and time-consuming manual work by astronauts.

The deal envisages Paris and Berlin holding equal stakes in the maker of tanks and other military gear, at a time when the continent is contending with a hostile Russia and worsening US ties, AzerNEWS reports RFL.

KNDS has a portfolio ranging from Leopard 2 and Leclerc tanks to artillery and armoured vehicles, and is a key supplier to European militaries.

The announcement comes just weeks after the collapse of the Franco-German FCAS project to build a next-generation fighter jet, which dealt a severe setback to efforts to strengthen Europe-wide defence initiatives.

The KNDS deal “reflects the shared determination of France and Germany to strengthen Europe’s industrial and defence capabilities, to support their armed forces, and to reinforce European sovereignty in an enduring fashion,” according to a joint statement issued by the French presidency.

The German government also said the deal would bolster Europe’s defence capabilities.

“The government aims in particular to strengthen bilateral and European armaments cooperation. Cooperation with France plays a key role in this regard,” it said in a statement.