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Foreign Affairs Minister of the UK, William Hague came under fire from a host of human rights campaign groups last night as he prepared to sign a major gas pipeline deal on “Shahdeniz-2” project, the British “Independent” writes.

The source reports that the Foreign Secretary is in the capital of Baku today to sign a deal for project “Shahdeniz-2”. BP, Statoil, Total and other companies are investing, along with the Azerbaijan government, around $45bn in the new pipeline.

As The Independent notes critics argue the deal will also provide revenues for the dictatorial regime of Azerbaijan.

According to the article the UK provides almost half of all foreign investment in Azerbaijan, largely due to BP’s work on the gas field there.

The Amnesty International’s head of policy and government affairs, Allan Hogarth, said that Azerbaijan had an appalling human rights record and the country was currently embarked on a particularly aggressive crackdown on freedom of expression. He urged Mr. Hague seek guarantees on human rights, as well as focus on “gas and profit”.

In its turn Emma Hughes, of the activist group Platform, said, that Hague’s trip follows hot on the heels of another undemocratic election in Azerbaijan. “Making energy deals with this corrupt dictatorship means that the UK’s ‘dash for gas’ is contributing significantly to the political repression of democracy activists in Azerbaijan,” she stated.

Today, the signing ceremony of the project "Shahdeniz - 2" is held in Baku. 16 billion cubic meters of gas is expected to be produced in the frameworks of the project, of which 6 billion will be delivered to Turkey and 10 billion to Europe.