New Feud Erupts: Russia and Azerbaijan at Each Other’s Throats

A political drama is unfolding between Russia and Azerbaijan after Azerbaijan accused Russian law enforcement of targeting and killing Azerbaijani citizens based on their ethnic identity. The crisis erupted following reports that Russian police arrested more than 50 Azerbaijanis and killed two brothers, Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, in Yekaterinburg, a city in Russia's Sverdlovsk region.

The Azerbaijani government says the violence was carried out intentionally by Russian authorities and has become a repeated pattern. In response, Baku’s Ministry of Culture canceled all Russian cultural events inside Azerbaijan, including concerts, exhibitions, and performances organized by both Russian state and private groups.

The diplomatic fallout deepened further when Azerbaijan canceled the planned visit of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk. Azerbaijani lawmakers declared that any high-level Russian visits were no longer appropriate under these tense circumstances.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry filed a formal protest with Moscow over the June 27 incident, demanding full accountability. However, Russia claimed that the arrests were part of a long-running investigation into murders committed between 2001 and 2011. The two countries now offer sharply conflicting versions of what happened.

While Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it gave full explanations to Baku, Azerbaijani lawmakers accused Moscow of launching what they called a “deportation operation” against Azerbaijanis—possibly for political reasons, they argued.

Media Suppression 

The political dispute quickly spilled over into media freedom. Police in Baku raided the office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, a media outlet backed by the Russian government. Two journalists were arrested and accused of working with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Russian diplomats claimed they were blocked from meeting the journalists and criticized the Azerbaijani authorities for their silence.

Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressed regret over Azerbaijan’s actions, warning that local police actions should not turn into larger diplomatic confrontations. But the damage was already done.

This latest dispute is not an isolated incident. It is part of a growing list of tensions between the two countries throughout 2024.

In December 2024, a passenger airplane operated by Azerbaijan’s national airline AZAL crashed while flying through Russian airspace. President Ilham Aliyev blamed the crash on Russian electronic warfare systems, accusing Moscow of interfering with the aircraft’s control systems.

Since that event, Azerbaijan has taken aggressive steps to reduce Russian influence within its borders. It shortened the allowed stay period for Russian citizens, closed the Russian cultural center “Russian House,” and suspended BBC Azerbaijan’s office in Baku. Several international NGOs, including USAID, Transparency International, the Red Cross, and some UN agencies, were also shut down.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan increased its aid to Ukraine, sending around $40 million in 2024—a strong message to Russia that Baku was turning westward.

Russia Responds with Accusations—and an Admission

In reaction to Azerbaijan’s distancing, Russian state media began attacking Aliyev’s government. But a notable comment came from a high-ranking Russian lawmaker—one that revealed how Moscow truly views Baku.

Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Committee on CIS Affairs, gave a striking interview to Russian media outlet Lenta.ru. He said clearly: “Azerbaijan has never been a strategic partner of Russia.”

He added that Azerbaijan is not part of major Russian-led alliances such as the Eurasian Economic Union or the Collective Security Treaty Organization. These are the same institutions that Armenia has historically been a part of—often to its own disadvantage.

But unlike Armenia, which remained loyal for years, Azerbaijan never entered these pacts.

Zatulin went further, saying that after what he described as “the cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh from its Armenian population,” Azerbaijan stopped caring about how Russia might respond to its actions.

“After that, the reason to wait for a possible negative reaction from Russia, to be wary of Russian interference in such an operation has disappeared from the Azerbaijani leadership,” Zatulin said. “The need for special relations with Russia has ceased to be essential.”

Zatulin's words show what many in Armenia have long known: that Russia, despite its role as a supposed security ally, looked the other way when Azerbaijan ethnically cleansed Armenians from their historic homeland of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). And even after this, Azerbaijan did not remain loyal to Russia—it pivoted toward the West.

Zatulin concluded that while Azerbaijan benefits from trade and labor migration with Russia, it was never truly a strategic partner. He warned that Moscow’s hopes to include Azerbaijan in regional transport routes—like the North-South Corridor—now seem increasingly “problematic.”

Propaganda Wars and Shifting Alliances

Baku, in turn, reminded the world of Russia’s own dark history in the region, such as Moscow’s role in crushing Azerbaijani protests in 1990 and its alleged complicity in the events of the so-called “1992 Khojaly massacre.” Russian media then launched even more aggressive campaigns against Aliyev.

While Moscow and Baku clash publicly, Russia is also eyeing its remaining foothold in the South Caucasus—Armenia.

A Moment of Reckoning for the Region

As Azerbaijan continues to distance itself from Moscow, and Armenia finds itself increasingly cornered by both its government and external pressures, the South Caucasus is entering a new phase. Alliances are breaking, roles are shifting, and new power dynamics are forming.

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