NOTES:
1- Although in decline, the Russian community second largest ethnic minority in Azerbaijan, the largest in the South Caucasus and one of the largest outside of Russia. the community still numbers 119,300 people as of 2009.
2- Azerbaijan fears Putin’s regional ambition. There is concern that Putin’s attention will shift southward after Crimea.
3- “Azerbaijan, the third-largest ex-Soviet oil producer, has spent the past two decades trying to establish itself as an alternative gas source to Europe. Home to the Shah Deniz field, the country struck a $45 billion deal in December with a BP Plc-led group.
“If the West doesn’t do anything to stop Russia, they will be emboldened to take back Azerbaijan by force as they did a hundred years ago,” said Zahir Rahimov, a 39-year-old resident of Baku, referring to the Bolshevik takeover.
Officials already complain about feeling the Kremlin’s pressure. The push from Moscow to join Putin’s new customs union, a project he wants to rival the European Union, is similar to the squeeze put on Ukraine, according to Siyavus Novruzov, a senior member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-06/putin-stirs-azeri-angst-russia-will-seek-to-extend-sway.html
4. This Caspian Sea nation is the ONLY westward route for central Asian oil and gas that bypasses Russia.
Russian troops are already stationed in neighboring Georgia and Armenia.
REMEMBER: Putin RECENT STATEMENT: “Russia will “never leave” the region.”