The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, called today (20 September) to congratulate Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on his United Russia party’s win in the elections of the Russian State Duma. According to the readout by the Azerbaijani president’s office, Aliyev described the United Russia’s victory in the parliamentary elections as “a manifestation of the people's appreciation of the policy aimed at the development and prosperity of the country under the leadership of Vladimir Putin”.
Whilst the readouts from both countries say that the men reaffirmed the importance of continuing active and constructive co-operation between the parliaments of the two countries, the Azerbaijani readout adds that they emphasised the successful development of relations between their countries “based on strategic partnership in various fields”. In both readouts, Aliyev is reported as having passed on his condolences over the incident this morning (20 September) at Perm State University, where a gunman reportedly left six people dead and a further 28 injured.