Azerbaijan has upped Podesta Group’s 2013 monthly retainer 50 percent to $45K as Tony Podesta’s firm works Congress and the executive branch on behalf of the southwestern Asian nation nestled between Iran and Russia.

The country has been rocked by protests ahead of the presidential elections slated for October.

A presidential candidate and leading opposition activist were arrested Feb. 4 on what Amnesty International called arrests that have “all the hallmarks of a politically motivated prosecution.”

The New York Times (Jan. 25) reported protests are a “rare explosion of uncontrolled frustration in Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country on the Caspian Sea, where politics are dominated by President Ilham Aliyev, and even relatively small street demonstrations often prompt heavy-handed responses from riot police officers.”

The Times magazine Feb. 8 featured the country's push for a higher profile, "Azerbaijan is Rich. Now It Wants to Be Famous."

Podesta reports to Azerbaijan’s U.S. ambassador Elin Suleymanov.