The Uzbek government, historically very wary of the spread of radicalism from Afghanistan, offered conflicting reports last week about incidents involving an alleged collision between an Uzbek MiG-29 and a fleeing Afghan military plane.

Aliyev had stunned Moscow by saying it was not doing enough to stop armed incidents along the frontier and threats nine months after Baku overwhelmed Armenia and re-took occupied Azerbaijani lands held for nearly three decades.

In an extensive interview with CNN Türk, he emphasised that statements by Kremlin officials that they want to help rebuild Armenia's devastated army - crushed during Baku's 2020 retaking of long-occupied Azerbaijani lands, "were devoid of logic".

In recent days, several incidents set off alarm bells in Tashkent over the sudden deterioration in the situation and a reluctance to let Afghani military absconders into Uzbekistan.