On August 22-23, Russia and Azerbaijan held high-level economic and diplomatic meetings in Astrakhan, focusing on trade, transport, energy cooperation, cultural ties, and multilateral coordination. On August 22, the Intergovernmental Commission of Russia and Azerbaijan on Economic Cooperation met in Astrakhan, co-chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk and Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev.

A flower-laying ceremony took place at the monument to the late Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, attended by Overchuk; Igor Babushkin, the Governor of the Astrakhan Region; Rahman Mustafayev, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia; and Mikhail Evdokimov, the Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan. On the same day, Babushkin also met with Ambassador Rahman Mustafayev.

In his statement on Telegram, Babushkin emphasized, "Azerbaijan is one of the key partners of the Astrakhan region. Over the first six months of this year, fish exports to the Republic of Azerbaijan increased by 5%, and the volume of vegetable and flour products is growing. We consider the further increase in trade volumes by improving transport infrastructure to be our most important task. In addition to the economy, special attention is paid to cultural interaction. We will continue to work on developing comprehensive cooperation with Azerbaijan and implementing joint projects on mutually beneficial, partnership-based terms."

The 10th Caspian Media Forum also opened in Astrakhan on the same day with the participation of several foreign delegations. During the meeting, Overchuk and Mustafayev signed the protocol for the next session of the intergovernmental commission. Following the meeting, Overchuk stated that Moscow and Baku had outlined joint priorities, focusing on energy cooperation and the development of transport links. He also highlighted that Russia and Azerbaijan "confidently rely on national currencies in their settlements," noting that the ruble accounted for 79.8% of transactions between January and May 2025.

On August 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov held a telephone conversation at the initiative of the Azerbaijani side. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, "the heads of the foreign policy departments exchanged initial assessments of the bilateral intergovernmental commission meeting on trade and economic cooperation, co-chaired by the deputy heads of government of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan, held the day before in Astrakhan." The ministers also discussed recent developments in the South Caucasus and cooperation between Moscow and Baku within multilateral platforms.