Azerbaijan and pipeline war in Dagestan

The natural gas pipeline running between Mosdok, Russia and Kazi Mahomed, Azerbaijan, controlled by Russia's Gazprom, has been the subject of terrorist attacks in Dagestan. In 2009 it was blown up twice, on April 10 and November 11, and there were four other unsuccessful attempts to do so. On January 12 yet another explosion took place which resulted in more than 200,000 customers not receiving natural gas.

Azerbaijan has expressed its deepest concern over the terrorist attacks on the pipeline. Azerbaijan's former Ambassador to Russia, Hikmet Gajizade, stated that a pipeline war damages Azeri interests in the region and make the situation there tense and unstable, thus discouraging potential investors.

Gajizade added that some forces want to exclude the entire Caucasus region from energy transport, as certain forces are opposed to transporting Azeri gas to Europe through Russia. Azeri newspaper Eco acknowledges that the Dagestan explosions undermine Azeri gas transportation to the north.