Fears have grown that Vladimir Putin could have another neighbour in his sights after he was seen giving a ‘frosty’ handshake to another world leader.
The Russian despot appeared to try and avoid Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev, 63, as dignitaries gathered before a huge military parade in Beijing this morning. But another guest stepped in Putin’s way, forcing him to exchange a greeting at a time of deep tension between the two men.
Putin – wearing high platform shoes to boost his 5ft 7in height – then fleetingly shook hands with Azerbaijan’s first lady and vice president Mehriban Aliyeva, 61, but the moment appeared deeply strained. In the seconds that followed, the Russian leader, 72, sought to hurriedly edge his way past his former close ally. More galling pictures were published when Putin grinned with Kim and Xi Jinping as ‘axis of evil’ met up at military parade.
Tensions between Russian and Azerbaijan have risen in recent months after a Putin air defence unit shot at an Azerbaijan Airlines E190 aircraft over Chechnya, resulting in an horrific plane crash in Kazakhstan which killed 38 of the 67 on board last Christmas.
Putin offered an apology, but outraged Aliyev by not formally accepting responsibility for the actions of his troops. “We know exactly what happened — and we can prove it,” said Aliyev at the time, who the Russians see as backing Ukraine and growing closer to the West.
