Iran said Sunday it had received indications from Russia’s president that he would not follow through with an offer to allow the US to use a radar station in neighboring Azerbaijan for missile defense against Teheran.
Popularity: 8% [?]
June 17, 2007Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov announced his country is ready for talks on Russia-US joint use of the Gabala Radar Station. He made the announcement to reporters in Baku today, REGNUM news agency reports.
Popularity: 4% [?]
June 11, 2007Today, Azerbaijan and Russian officials so far failed to reach common agreement on the amount and prices of the Russian gas imports at the meeting held in Moscow, Gazprom Officer in Baku Akif Hasanov told APA news agency.
Popularity: 1% [?]
December 22, 2006The military board of the Serious Crimes Court has started preliminary hearings of the case of Petr Modzhalov, an Azerbaijani military officer in reserve who is accused of treason, Day.az website reported.
Popularity: 1% [?]
December 6, 2006Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Wednesday that Azerbaijan had agreed to supply his country with natural gas as it seeks alternatives to rising Russian prices, but Azerbaijan’s state petroleum company said no contract has been signed, AP reports.
Popularity: 2% [?]
November 30, 2006Russian gas giant Gazprom has confirmed its intention to cut gas supplies to Azerbaijan from 4.5 to 1.5bn cubic meters in 2007, official spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said.
Popularity: 1% [?]
November 23, 2006AzAL (Azerbaijani Airlnes) turned down a flight of AN-140-100 passenger plane manufactured by Ukraine. Spokesman for the company Magerram Safarli made the announcement to reporters, the REGNUM agency reports.
Popularity: 1% [?]
November 21, 2006Three Russian teenagers were sentenced to brief prison terms for involvement in attacks on foreign nationals in St. Petersburg, the Interfax news agency reports.
Popularity: 3% [?]
November 15, 2006Government authorities will ban Azerbaijan broadcasters from airing programs of the Voice of America, the BBC and Radio Liberty starting next year, the Associated Press news agency reported quoting a statement by Aziri broadcasting chief Nushirrin Maharramov.
The local broadcasters lack licenses allowing them to air programs of the foreign radio stations, said Nushirrin Maharramov, the head of National Broadcasting Council.
But opposition media denounced the move as part of a government campaign against the freedom of speech.
Pressure on independent media and attacks on opposition journalists are frequent in this oil-rich Caspian Sea state, which has been ruled with a tight grip by President Ilham Aliev since 2003, when he succeeded his long-ruling father in flawed elections.
Maharramov said that the ban would take effect Jan. 1. However, he said the British Broadcasting Corp. and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, based in Prague, Czech Republic, would be able to continue using frequencies allotted to them by Azerbaijani authorities. He said officials are willing to discuss providing a frequency to Washington-based Voice of America.
“We are ready to provide additional frequencies to foreign radio stations if necessary,†he said.
Editors of leading opposition newspapers and media freedom advocates issued a statement voicing concern, and promised to launch a campaign against what they said was increasing official pressure on freedom of speech.
Ali Kerimli, head of a leading opposition movement, said the decision reflected government attempts to “restore the Soviet-style authoritarianism.â€
Kerimli, who accused the government of trying to weaken the opposition and independent media ahead of the 2008 presidential election, said opponents were planning hunger strikes and pickets to protest the move in the oil-rich former Soviet republic.
BBC World Service said in a statement it was “watching the situation carefully†and wanted “to continue to offer our listeners in Azerbaijan independent and impartial news and information.â€
The move comes months after the Russian government curtailed the number of stations broadcasting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America news programs, a move that drew criticism about the state of democracy under President Vladimir Putin. But Russian officials said the matter is simply one of stations’ conforming with their broadcast licenses.
Both Radio Free Europe and Voice of America are funded by the U.S. government, but with an independent editorial board.
During the Soviet era, Radio Liberty was one of the few sources of uncensored information in the region.
Popularity: 1% [?]
October 27, 2006
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