Azerbaijan–Russia border (, ) is the state

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

between

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. It is 338 km (210 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the west to the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

the east. Prior to 1991 it formed the border between the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

(including Dagestan ASSR) and the Azerbaijan SSR within the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The southernmost point of the Russian Federation is located on the border.

Description

The border starts in the west at the Georgian tripoint and proceeds in south-eastwards direction over various mountain ridges of the Caucasus Mountains, before turning to the north-east roughly halfway and then proceeding along the Samur river valley to the Samur Delta on the Caspian Sea coast. Mount Bazardüzü, the highest peak in both Dagestan and Azerbaijan, lies on the frontier. Parts of the border are fenced and equipped with technical facilities including barbed wire, sensors and

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

History

During the 19th century the Caucasus region was contested between the declining

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

, which was expanding southwards. By the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) and the subsequent Treaty of Gulistan, Russia acquired the bulk of what is now Azerbaijan and parts of Armenia. Russia organised the areas that now form Azerbaijan into the governorates of

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and Elizavetpol (and the Zakatal Okrug within the Tiflis Governorate) – the northern border of these subdivisions effectively set the Azerbaijan–Russia border at its current location. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Russian Communists staged a successful

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

in 1917, whilst the peoples of the southern Caucasus had declared the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. Internal disagreements led to

leaving the federation in May 1918, followed shortly thereafter by

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and

. The northern border of Azerbaijan utilised the former provincial borders of the Baku, Elizabethpol and Tiflis governorates. In 1920 Russia's

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

invaded Azerbaijan and Armenia, ending the independence of both, followed shortly thereafter by Georgia. All three states were incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR within the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, before being separated again in 1936. The boundary became an international frontier in 1991 following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

and the independence of its constituent republics. Border demarcation discussions then began, being completed in September 2010. Following ratification it entered into force the following year. The border agreement was criticised by some Communist Party deputies of the Russian

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

, however the then head of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov said that "Dagestan has not lost anything, but gained a lot more".

Border crossings

There are four border crossings: * Samur (AZE) – Yarag-Kazmalyar (RUS) * Şirvanovka (AZE) – Novo-Filya (RUS) * Yalama (AZE) – Tagirkent-Kazmalyar (RUS) * Zuxul (AZE) – Garakh (RUS) (not open to third country nationals) There is also a train service connecting Derbent (Russia) and

(Azerbaijan).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azerbaijan-Russia border Borders of Azerbaijan Borders of Russia Azerbaijan–Russia relations Internal borders of the Soviet Union International borders 1991 establishments in Azerbaijan 1991 establishments in Russia