Kremlin Closely Following Turkey’s Intention To Open Military Base In Azerbaijan

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has described the deployment of NATO military bases near the Russian borders as a reason for special attention and taking security measures, RIA Novosti reports..

Peskov's remarks on Friday, June 18 came in response to a statement from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the possibility of establishing a military base in Azerbaijan within a bilateral agreement signed by Baku and Ankara days earlier.

The Kremlin spokesperson said Russia is closely following the matter.

"We are cooperating with the Republic of Turkey on stabilizing the situation in the Transcaucasus. We are in close contact with Ankara, Baku and Yerevan, we believe that any steps should contribute to the further stabilization of the situation in the Transcaucasus, the development of infrastructure, logistics, rectification of the situation in general and should not contain any elements that may cause tensions to rise," Peskov said.

The declaration, which the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey signed on Tuesday, proclaims the readiness of both countries to act jointly in the event of a threat or aggression by a third state. The document also notes that the parties will continue to modernize the armed forces.