Serving as the lead advisor of the Department of Security and Disarmament of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1995–2000),[4] Abdullayev represented the Russian Federation at the Disarmament Commission of the United Nations. He led the team of Russian diplomats responsible for Safeguards, Transparency and Irreversibility talks with the United States on the exchange of information on disarmament.[5] In April 1999, he testified before the Commission that the NATO incursion in the Balkans would be detrimental for the progress of ratifying the 1993 START II arms treaty.[6]
From May 26, 2000, to March 24, 2006, Abdullayev was the Ambassador of Russia to Cameroon, with concurrent accreditation to Equatorial Guinea.[7][8][9][10]
An honorary member of the Belgian Royal Society of Napoleonic Research, under the pseudonymA. Platov, Abdullayev's book So Said Napoleon (Russian: Так говорил Наполеон) was published in 2003.[11]