Yerevan /Mediamax/. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev continues publicly expressing his displeasure at the military cooperation between Russia and Armenia.

Azerbaijani media report that Ilham Aliyev made new remarks on the topic at the meeting with newly appointed Ambassador of Greece to Azerbaijan Nikolaos Piperigkos on September 2.

“Close military cooperation between Armenia and any country causes concerns. You probably know how we feel about the intensive arms supply from Russia to Armenia immediately after Armenia’s provocation at the border. Active combat halted on July 16, and since July 17 and until now – the latest flight took place yesterday – Russia made a lot of cargo flights to Armenia through the air space of Caspian bordering countries. I speak about this not only to you. We have raised this issue with our Russian partners as well, because their military cooperation with Armenia creates a threat for Azerbaijan. Armenia uses Russian weapons to kill our troops and civilians,” said Aliyev.

This is at least third public complaint about Russia by an Azerbaijan official.

On August 29, Aliyev’s Advisor Hikmet Hajiyev stated that Russia was “intensively arming Armenia” after the July clashes on Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Reuters reported that according to Hajiyev, Russian Il-76 airlifters made regular flights to Armenia after July 17.

Hajiyev said Baku was not satisfied with Russia’s explanation that those Il-76 planes were carrying building materials. “Construction materials are usually not supplied in aeroplanes, there are other tools for that,” Hajiyev said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who visited Baku on August 25, stated that Moscow was not acting against Azerbaijan.

“We followed anxiously the events on the border with Armenia. We know about the concerns regarding our flights to our base. I want to state this at once: none of our actions have ever been or are aimed against Azerbaijan, our neighbor and partner. Russia is not interested in escalating the tension in the South Caucasus,” he said during the visit.

Shoigu noted that Russia was building structures of social purpose at its military base in Armenia.

 “That implies certain light activity. The other part of the process is the conscription. Some soldiers had to be taken home, some others – brought to the base,” he added.

“I repeat: our actions have never been aimed against Azerbaijan and they are not aimed against it now,” Shoigu assured.

Earlier, on August 12, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a phone conversation that he was concerned about military deliveries to Armenia.

“Ilham Aliyev has noted that the volume of military cargo, delivered from Russia to Armenia through the air space of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran immediately after the clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijan border, exceeded 400 tons. He has underlined that the main goal of his call was to clarify that issue,” Aliyev’s press service said in a statement.