Radio “Liberty”: Azerbaijani authorities hire a new lobbyist in United States to restore their imageAzerbaijan has hired a veteran Republican Party adviser and political strategist Liz Mair, to boost its public image in the United States, the Radio Liberty reports.

According to the article Baku’s embassy in Washington has signed a contract with Liz Mair, whose public-relations firm will aim to generate news coverage to “impact various U.S. government officials, as well as the U.S. general public”.
Under the terms of the six-month contract, Azerbaijan will pay Mair’s firm, Mair Strategies, $15,000 a month for public-relations services.

As it is noted in the article the move comes as Azerbaijan faces mounting criticism over its human rights record from Western officials, analysts, and rights groups.

The author noes that since Azerbaijan assumed the chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s committee of ministers in May, it has undertaken “the most serious and brutal crackdown on civil society in Azerbaijan ever,” according to the Berlin-based European Stability Initiative.

At the same time, Azerbaijani officials have sought to portray the country as a valuable U.S. and European ally, and as a crucial player in energy security, the article reads.

However, according to the article, critics have accused Baku of using the Ukraine crisis and its lobbying push to deflect attention from its human rights record, including a sweeping crackdown in recent months against journalists, lawyers, and other government critics in Azerbaijan.

The article also notes that, in 2013, Azerbaijan was the 10th-largest spender on lobbying efforts in the United States among foreign governments, shelling out almost $2.3 million, according to an analysis by the Sunlight Foundation. Azerbaijan has also signed a $50,000-per-month contract with The Podesta Group, a top Washington lobbying firm.