Ukrainian diplomat Boris Aleksenko, who held various high positions in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era and later became the first ambassador of independent Ukraine in Baku, has told the Eastern European Bureau of Report about his memories of the national leader Heydar Aliyev.
Aleksenko was born in the Sumy region of Ukraine. In 1961, after graduating from the Sumy Mechanical Engineering College, he entered the Azerbaijan Polytechnic Institute (now the Technical University). Upon completion of it in 1970, he was appointed to one of the local enterprises and worked as a metallurgist at the Baku Machine-Building Plant, located in the Sabunchu district of Baku. Then he held various positions in Azerbaijan.
“I am very grateful to fate for the meeting with the great Azerbaijani Heydar Aliyev, with the Azerbaijani people,” he said.
Aleksenko recalled Heydar Aliyev’s support for many peoples, including his country as the first deputy of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
“When Heydar Aliyev worked in Moscow, he dealt with issues of transport and light industry. At that time, mechanical engineering in Ukraine had high potential, and Heydar Aliyev felt this and made a great contribution to improving the activities of our metallurgy, mechanical engineering enterprises, as well as the scientific and production bio plant named after Frunze, which produces equipment for oil and gas. He has done a lot in Ukraine,” Aleksenko added.
He noted that Heydar Aliyev also had a serious influence on the development of light industry enterprises.
After the collapse of the USSR, he returned to Azerbaijan again and was appointed charge d’affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in Azerbaijan.
Aleksenko spoke about the history of his crossing paths with Heydar Aliyev after the collapse of the USSR, about the fact that he was the first ambassador of Ukraine to independent Azerbaijan: “During this period, we signed many documents. One of them was the main document on strategic cooperation and mutual assistance between the armies of Azerbaijan and Ukraine.”
Aleksenko noted that at that time Azerbaijan didn’t have an embassy in Ukraine.
The former diplomat was confirmed as the first ambassador of independent Ukraine to Azerbaijan in 1998: “It was easy for me to work as ambassador because the national interests of Azerbaijan and Ukraine are close to each other.”
He noted that Heydar Aliyev played a big role in the fate of Ukrainians: “I will tell you important facts. In 2001, we ran out of fuel because Russia stopped supplying us with diesel fuel. I went to Heydar Aliyev and explained the situation. He called the prime minister Artur Rasizade and ordered to supply us with 100,000 tons of diesel fuel. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pay the cost of this fuel. Over time, the Azerbaijani government didn’t even ask Ukraine for this. This is how Heydar Aliyev saved us.”
Aleksenko also said that when Russia blocked the railway connection between Ukraine and Azerbaijan, and thereby blocked the routes for the supply of Ukrainian products to the markets of eastern countries, Heydar Aliyev again came to the aid of the Ukrainian people.
“Ukraine found itself in a difficult situation; it could have faced a shortage. We couldn’t ensure supplies to our country of a number of types of products, for example, metal. We turned to Azerbaijan for help. Heydar Aliyev helped us set up supplies to ports in Baku and Poti (Georgia). Thus, he again saved Ukraine from the crisis,” Aleksenko said.