Head of Azerbaijani Diaspora in Moscow Region Loses Russian Citizenship
On Friday, the head of the Azerbaijani community in the Moscow region revealed that he had lost his Russian citizenship, expressing plans to return to Azerbaijan amid growing diplomatic strains between the two countries.
A video shared late Thursday by an anonymous Telegram channel seemingly showed officials informing Elshan Ibragimov that his Russian citizenship was retroactively revoked as of June 18.
The Telegram news outlet Ostorozhno Novosti confirmed the video’s authenticity with Ibragimov, who chose not to comment further. Reports from Azerbaijani media indicated that Ibragimov mentioned he would provide more details upon his return to Azerbaijan “in a few days.”
According to unnamed sources cited by RBC, Ibragimov was facing deportation due to actions deemed as threats to Russia’s national security.
By Friday afternoon, mentions of Ibragimov had been erased from the Moscow region’s public commission website, where he served as chairman of regional Azerbaijani cultural autonomy and as a member of the council for national cultural organizations.
Tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan escalated dramatically this week following police operations in Russia targeting ethnic Azerbaijanis linked to homicides from the early 2000s.
In Yekaterinburg, two Azerbaijani men were killed amid extensive arrests, while six individuals were charged with murder and attempted murder and placed in pre-trial detention. A local leader from the Azerbaijani diaspora was also forcibly taken into custody but was later released after being questioned as a witness.
In response, Baku has launched a criminal investigation into the deaths of these two men, alleging that Russian law enforcement employed torture and carried out extrajudicial killings. In turn, Moscow has accused Azerbaijan of interfering in its internal law enforcement matters.
As part of what seems to be an act of reprisal, Azerbaijani authorities reported detaining at least ten Russian citizens—two affiliated with the Kremlin-backed Sputnik news agency—while others face accusations related to cybercrime and drug trafficking.
With relations continuing to deteriorate, Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, urged for calm on Thursday and attributed rising tensions to “certain external forces” attempting to disrupt the “strategic alliance” between Russia and Azerbaijan.
