Category: Azer News

The number of myGov ID users exceeded 5 million in 2025, marking a 19% increase compared to the previous year.

As reported by Azernews, this was announced by Farid Osmanov, Chairman of the Board of the Innovation and Digital Development Agency (IRIA), during a press conference on the agency’s annual performance held today.

Osmanov noted that the number of transactions carried out via the platform rose by 29% year-on-year, reaching 101.1 million in 2024.

He also highlighted significant growth in system integration, stating that the number of information systems connected to the platform increased by 67% over the past year to a total of 274.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed on Sunday that European countries are attempting to ‘drive wedges’ between Moscow and Washington.

As reported by Azernews, in an interview with Russia-1, Lavrov said: “It’s Europe that has tried, and continues to try, to ‘drive wedges’ between Russia and the United States, perceiving a bias in U.S. policy under President Donald Trump in favor of Russia at the expense of Europe’s interests.”

Lavrov further argued that many European nations have ‘swapped interests’ with Ukraine in their efforts against Russia and are no longer concealing it. ‘They are preparing for a war with their own direct participation,’ he stated, adding, ‘perhaps that is how they will be treated.’

The remarks come amid ongoing tensions over the conflict in Ukraine and increasing geopolitical friction between Russia, Europe, and the United States.

Iran’s parliament has passed a law declaring the militaries of European Union member states as terrorist organizations in response to the EU’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (SEPAH) as a terrorist group.

As reported by Azernews, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf made the announcement during a plenary session, warning that the EU would bear responsibility for the negative consequences of the move.

He stated, ‘The EU’s efforts to strike SEPAH – which is the biggest barrier to the spread of terrorism – are in fact self-damaging.’

During the session, parliament member Alireza Salimi suggested that, considering the new classification, military attachés from EU countries’ embassies should be considered for expulsion from Iran. Ghalibaf instructed the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee to coordinate with the Iranian Foreign Ministry to monitor the matter closely.

The move comes after the EU, on January 29, officially designated SEPAH as a terrorist organization, citing its role in suppressing recent protests in Iran.

Around 140 breweries in the United Kingdom closed their doors last year, marking the highest number of annual shutdowns since 1974.

As reported by Azernews, the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) shared the figures with The Daily Telegraph.

SIBA’s chief executive, Andy Slee, said that although consumer interest in craft beer remains strong, the past year has witnessed the largest wave of brewery closures since records began. He noted that the number of breweries operating across all regions of the UK continues to decline.

Rising tax pressure, particularly, increases in alcohol duties and value-added tax – is considered one of the main reasons behind the closures.

Slee emphasized that the heavy tax burden on breweries and their primary sales outlets, pubs, combined with the dominant market power of global beer brands, is making it increasingly difficult for small producers to remain profitable.

The European Union’s decision to allocate pound 20 million to Armenia through the European Peace Facility raises serious and unavoidable questions, not only about Brussels’ judgment, but about its credibility as a neutral actor in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process.

At a moment when the South Caucasus stands at a fragile but historic crossroads, such a move sends precisely the wrong signal. Rather than consolidating peace, it risks destabilising a region that has only recently emerged from decades of conflict.

From Azerbaijan’s perspective, the decision directly contradicts the spirit and substance of the 8 August 2025 Washington agenda, which prioritised de-escalation, confidence-building, and a comprehensive peace settlement between Baku and Yerevan. That agenda was meant to close the chapter of confrontation. The EU’s action, by contrast, appears to reopen it.

If the conflict is indeed over, as European officials themselves frequently assert, then the logic of channeling funds through a military-linked mechanism becomes deeply questionable. What threat, exactly, is being addressed? Against whom? And why now? These questions have yet to receive credible answers.

The European Peace Facility is not a humanitarian instrument. It is a security and defence tool. Dressing military assistance in the language of peace does not change its substance; and regional actors understand this perfectly well. In the South Caucasus, where trust is scarce and memories of war are fresh, symbolism matters. This decision symbolises imbalance, not reassurance.

Worse still, it undermines the very peace-building process that the EU claims to support. Sustainable peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia can only be achieved through parity, restraint, and mutual confidence, not through actions that strengthen one side while leaving the other sidelined. By acting unilaterally, Brussels risks injecting new tensions into an already delicate environment.

The message received in Baku is unmistakable: the EU is drifting away from a balanced approach and edging towards selective engagement. This is not a theoretical concern. The consequences are practical and immediate. Such decisions complicate negotiations, erode trust, and create incentives for hardliners rather than moderates.

This is not the first time the EU has misstepped. Earlier documents outlining a so-called ‘strategic agenda’ with Armenia included language that revived outdated narratives and implicitly legitimised positions that belong firmly in the past. Instead of supporting reconciliation, those texts echoed grievances that fuelled conflict in the first place. The pound 20 million allocation fits into a worrying pattern rather than standing as an isolated error.

What makes the situation more perplexing is that Azerbaijan has taken concrete steps to steer relations with the EU in a positive and forward-looking direction. From energy security to regional connectivity and post-conflict reconstruction, Baku has repeatedly demonstrated willingness to engage constructively. Yet these efforts are met not with balance, but with policies that appear indifferent to Azerbaijani concerns.

If Brussels genuinely seeks stability in the South Caucasus, then equilibrium must be restored. A peace-oriented policy cannot favour one party while ignoring the other. If funds are allocated through the Peace Facility, they should be matched, in equal measure, for Azerbaijan. Anything less constitutes a structurally imbalanced approach that undermines the EU’s claim to impartiality.

Absent such balance, the EU risks being perceived not as a mediator, but as a participant, the one whose actions could unintentionally push the region towards renewed confrontation. That would be a tragic irony for an institution that defines itself as a champion of peace.

The South Caucasus does not need symbolic gestures disguised as stabilisation. It needs consistency, fairness, and restraint. Europe still has an opportunity to correct course. Whether it chooses to do so will determine whether it is remembered as a facilitator of peace or as an actor that, through miscalculation, helped derail it.

For three decades, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict was defined almost exclusively by ceasefires, diplomatic deadlock and periodic violence. Today, something far quieter but potentially far more consequential is taking shape across the South Caucasus: trains loaded not with weapons, but with grain and fuel.

The recent transit of 25 grain wagons carrying 1,746 tonnes of product through Azerbaijani territory to Armenia is not an isolated event. It follows months of steadily expanding logistical cooperation. Nearly 20,000 tonnes of grain have already passed the same route, alongside multiple fuel shipments – AI-92, AI-95 and diesel – moving directly from Azerbaijan toward Armenia via Georgia. The first such fuel delivery in December 2025 marked a symbolic turning point: for the first time, Azerbaijan was not merely a neighbour or former adversary, but an energy lifeline.

These movements matter precisely because they appear mundane. Economic normalisation, not political theatre, is beginning to shape the post-war order.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both inflicted deep human losses and entrenched national trauma. The Second Karabakh War, however, fundamentally altered the strategic landscape. Azerbaijan’s victory ended a 30-year occupation and dismantled the status quo that had frozen diplomacy in place.

Since then, the question has not been whether peace is necessary, but whether it is possible. Armenia’s approach to negotiations today is shaped less by historical claims than by geopolitical necessity. The country’s isolation, limited energy resources and disrupted trade routes have left it acutely dependent on external supply chains.

It is within this context that grain and fuel shipments acquire political meaning.

Washington talks and the opening of economic channels

The diplomatic catalyst for this shift was the Azerbaijan-Armenia meeting in Washington, which created the political space for pragmatic cooperation. While no final peace treaty emerged, the talks helped unblock economic mechanisms that had been frozen for decades.

The November 2025 delivery of 1,000 tonnes of Kazakh grain to Armenia through Azerbaijan, the first such transit in 30 years, was a clear signal. Russian grain soon followed, using the same corridor. These routes are not emergency measures; they are structural changes to how Armenia accesses food security.

President Ilham Aliyev’s confirmation that Azerbaijan now permits grain transportation to Armenia underscores the strategic intent behind these decisions. As he noted, such mechanisms strengthen peace and expand economic cooperation. The message is clear: stability is no longer pursued solely through deterrence, but through interdependence.

Energy dependence as a driver of reconciliation

Armenia’s growing reliance on Azerbaijani transit and fuel supplies reveals an uncomfortable truth for Yerevan: sustainable security cannot be built in isolation. Energy, unlike ideology, demands continuity. Fuel shortages are politically destabilising, economically damaging and socially corrosive.

This reality is also reshaping Armenia’s approach to Trkiye. Rebuilding relations with Ankara is no longer framed only as a historical debate, but as a logistical imperative. Together, Azerbaijan and Trkiye form the backbone of the region’s transport and energy architecture. Armenia’s reintegration into that system requires accommodation, not confrontation.

From Baku’s perspective, this is not charity. It is strategic foresight. Economic leverage, when exercised predictably and transparently, is more durable than military pressure. By positioning itself as a reliable transit and energy hub, Azerbaijan increases the cost of renewed hostility-without firing a shot.

What makes the current moment distinct is that cooperation is no longer limited to third-party transit. Analysts increasingly expect a shift toward direct bilateral trade. Fuel and grain are merely the opening chapter.

Armenia has the potential to export processed food, construction materials and manufactured goods, particularly in the non-oil sector. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, offers scale, infrastructure and access to wider regional markets. If political momentum holds, economic complementarities could gradually replace zero-sum thinking.

This does not mean reconciliation will be quick or linear. Deep mistrust remains, and a peace treaty is still under negotiation. Yet history suggests that peace sustained by economic interest tends to outlast peace imposed by diplomacy alone.

Grain wagons crossing borders do not erase the past. They do something more pragmatic: they anchor the future in shared necessity. For Armenia, access to food and fuel is existential. For Azerbaijan, regional stability is a prerequisite for long-term development and connectivity.

The South Caucasus has entered a phase where war is no longer the most rational option for either side. That shift did not come from speeches or slogans, but from logistics, supply chains and energy flows.

If this trajectory continues, historians may one day mark these grain and fuel shipments not as footnotes, but as the quiet beginning of a peace built not on sentiment, but on survival-and sustained by mutual dependence.

Another batch of grain wagons has been shipped from Russia to Armenia through Azerbaijan’s transit corridor, Azernews reports.

According to the information, 25 grain wagons with a total weight of 1,746 tons passed through Azerbaijani territory today en route to the Republic of Armenia.

To date, a total of 285 grain wagons – approximately 19,900 tons – have been transported from Russia to Armenia via Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that on January 11, a train consisting of 18 wagons loaded with 979 tons of AI-92 automotive fuel was sent from Bilajari station to Boyuk Kesik.

The cargo was delivered to Armenia via transit through Georgia. On January 9, a total of 2,698 tons of fuel (48 wagons) – including 1,742 tons of AI-95 gasoline and 956 tons of diesel – was also sent from Bilajari station to Armenia.

The first fuel shipment from Azerbaijan to Armenia was dispatched on December 18, 2025.

France has lowered the safety limit for cereulide toxin in infant formula, aiming to strengthen protections after several major ?groups ordered worldwide recalls over contamination concerns, the farm ministry said on Saturday, Azernews reports, citing Arab News.

Cereulide, which can cause nausea and vomiting, has been detected in ingredients from a factory in China supplying a large number of baby formula makers including Nestle, Danone Lactalis, triggering recalls dozens of ?and ?raising concerns parents.

The new threshold will be of 0.014 micrograms of cereulide per kg of body mass, compared to 0.03 micrograms per kg currently, the ministry said in a statement.

France’s move follows a European Union meeting on ?January 28 and is in line with an updated from the European Safety Authority that be released on Monday, it .

The lower threshold is likely to lead to further withdrawals in France in the coming days, it added.

The recalls illustrate how a single ?compromised ingredient can spread through the infant nutrition supply chain, despite tight regulation, and ?cause rapid market jitters.

French investigators said on January 23 they are looking into whether there is a link between the death of two infants and recalled formula products.

On Thursday, consumer group foodwatch said it had filed a criminal complaint in Paris on behalf of eight families whose babies it says fell ill after consuming contaminated infant formula, companies waited too long to warn the public.

The US State Department has approved potential foreign military sales to Israel totaling about $6.52 billion, Azernews reports, citing Azertag.

The approvals include a possible sale of AH-64E Apache helicopters and related equipment worth an estimated $3.8 billion, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. Boeing and Lockheed Martin would be the principal contractors.

Separately, the department approved a possible sale of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and related equipment valued at about $1.98 billion. AM General LLC would be the principal contractor, it said.

‘The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing the mobility of its ground forces during operations,’ the agency said.

The State Department also cleared a potential sale of Namer Armored Personnel Carrier power packs less transmissions, along with integrated logistics support and related equipment, with an estimated value of $740 million. Rolls-Royce Solutions America would serve as the principal contractor.

U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that negotiations regarding Greenland have begun, expressing hope that the outcome will be a ‘good deal’ for both Washington and Europe.

As reported by Azernews, Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters.

‘We have started negotiations,’ he said in response to questions about whether he had been in contact with European leaders on the issue of Greenland.

‘I hope it will be a good deal for everyone. From a national security perspective, it is a very important agreement. I believe we will reach a deal,’ the U.S. President added.