Azerbaijan-Russia Relations Deteriorate
The diplomatic relationship between Azerbaijan and Russia has significantly worsened following the deaths of two ethnic Azerbaijani men during extensive police operations in Yekaterinburg, Russia, last week.
On Saturday, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires, Pyotr Volokovykh, to voice its outrage regarding what it termed the “brutal killings” that occurred during Friday’s police actions.
The ministry also noted that several individuals suffered serious injuries during these operations.
Initially, Russian authorities claimed that the arrests were part of an effort to dismantle an “ethnic criminal group” linked to murders from the early 2000s and confirmed that those taken into custody were Azerbaijani-born citizens residing in Russia. In total, around 50 people were detained.
It was not until later that officials acknowledged fatalities; on Monday, the Investigative Committee of Russia indicated that one individual appeared to have died from heart failure while inquiries into the cause of the second death were still underway.
The victims, identified by Azerbaijani media as brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, reportedly had their bodies returned to Azerbaijan for autopsies scheduled for this week in Baku.
In reaction to these events, Azerbaijan’s Culture Ministry announced on Sunday the cancellation of all cultural activities related to Russia, condemning what they referred to as “demonstrative targeted and extrajudicial killings” motivated by ethnicity. Furthermore, Azerbaijan’s parliament withdrew from a planned bilateral meeting in Moscow, and a visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk was canceled by the Azerbaijani government.
Officials cited by the Azerbaijani news agency Report remarked that given the current situation, it would be inappropriate for Overchuk or any other Russian official to travel to Azerbaijan.
The Kremlin expressed disappointment over the suspension of Russian cultural initiatives in Azerbaijan.
On Monday evening, law enforcement personnel in Baku raided the office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, part of Russia’s state news network. Although operations had been halted earlier this year due to new regulations limiting foreign ownership in media outlets, Sputnik continued its online publishing activities.
Reports from some Azerbaijani media suggested that two suspected FSB agents were arrested during this raid; however, there has been no immediate confirmation regarding these detentions from Baku.
In response to these developments, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced it had summoned Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Moscow “due to Baku’s unfriendly actions and the unlawful detention of Russian journalists.”
Relations between Moscow and Baku have become increasingly strained since a tragic incident last December when Russian air defenses shot down a passenger aircraft en route from Baku to Grozny in Chechnya. This crash ultimately took place in western Kazakhstan and resulted in 38 fatalities among those on board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an unusual apology to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev concerning this incident but did not assume full responsibility; he stated that air defense systems had been responding to a Ukrainian drone strike occurring on the same day as the tragedy.
