Azerbaijan is Quietly Playing a Key Role in Russia's Economic Plans

When the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia met on April 22 at the Kremlin, it wasn't Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine, or Iran that took center stage. It was the 50th anniversary of a Soviet railroad construction project. The occasion for the visit, at least officially, was to mark the 1974 start of construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railway in the Russian Far East. The project was headed by Heydar Aliyev, in his role as first deputy chairman of the Soviet Union's Council of Ministers. Fifty years later that Aliyev's son -- Ilham Aliyev,…