Your generosity empowers our advocacy, inspires our work, and sustains our momentum.
Even as U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing Azerbaijan’s genocide of Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians, the Aliyev regime is actively undermining American foreign policy by repeatedly evading U.S. sanctions:
— Russia’s “Lukoil” purchased a $1.5 billion stake in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field and pipeline projects, increasing its total stake to 19.99% – the largest after BP, the primary operator. This deal was finalized on February 18th 2022, about a week before Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine. Lukoil is currently under U.S. sanctions.
— Russia‘s “Gazprom” signed a deal in November 2022 with Azerbaijan’s “SOCAR” to supply Azerbaijan with 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas by March 2023 – to meet Azerbaijan’s domestic demand. This calls into question Azerbaijan’s capacity and willingness to cut Russia out of Europe’s energy supply chain.
— Azerbaijan agreed to allow Russia’s Gazprom to supply Iran’s NIOC with 15 billion cubic meters of gas ($40 billion worth) through Azerbaijani pipelines, as reported by Azerbaijani media.
— Iran‘s National Oil Company (NIOC) – also under U.S. sanctions – owns a 10% stake in Azerbaijan’s primary gas field exporting energy to Europe.
— Azerbaijan has laundered millions of dollars into Russian and Iranian companies (including military contractors, oil companies and financial institutions) under U.S. sanctions, as reported by the OCCRP.
— As detailed by OFAC, Azerbaijan has been exempt from sanctions under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act (Sec. 1244 IFCA) that would have otherwise applied to transactions related to Azerbaijan’s energy industry – including the partial ownership of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz Gas Field by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
— As of October 2023, SOCAR, will receive a $1.5 billion loan from Russia‘s Lukoil as part of a deal to supply crude oil to SOCAR’s oil refinery in Turkey.