Tensions are rising between Russia and Azerbaijan. Why is this happening now?

Deaths of Ethnic Azerbaijani In a Russian city, he rolled by the police for decades of murders. An accident Azerbaijan Airlines Passenger Jet Baku blamed Moscow. Growing between Azerbaijan and Türkiye and the Russian influence in the problematic South Caucasus region to decrease.

These are among the factors that led to the increasing tensions between Russia and the Caspian Naval Country Azerbaijan. President Ilhan Aliyev Since 2003, the power of Vladimir Putin in Russia is up to the 25-year rule.

Here is a look at the hot relationship between Russia and Azerbaijan before:

Economic ties between Russia and Azerbaijan

After 1993, Russia and Azerbaijan developed strong economic and cultural ties, the father of Aliyev, the father of Aliyev, the communist boss of the Soviet period of Azerbaijan. Like Putin, young Aliyev suppressed political enemies and restricted independent media.

Azerbaijan bought oil and natural gas from Russia to meet domestic demand while exporting its own energy richness to the West. Russia was also the main market of Azerbaijan’s exports of fruit and vegetables. It is also an important transportation corridor for Russia’s trade with other partners in Iran and the Middle East.

Azerbaijan businessmen control important assets in the construction, real estate, trade and other sectors of the Russian economy.

Russia is home to a large Azerbaijani diaspora. The 2021 census listed about half a million ethnic Azerbaijan living in Russia, but unofficial estimates increased this number up to 2 million.

Relationships with Baku became increasingly more important for the Kremlin, because in 2022 he sent unity to Ukraine, especially Turkey became a key economic partner for Russia, which sweeps Western sanctions.

Karabakh Ayrılıkçı Conflict

Just before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, an open conflict exploded between two of the former republics in the South Caucasus – Azerbaijan and his neighbor Armenia. After years of fight, Armenian -supported separatists controlled the control of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and nearby regions.

Russia claimed impartiality in the conflict despite its economic assistance and providing weapons to Armenia, which hosts its military base. Moscow supported peace talks under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, but they did not make an agreement.

In 2020, the Azerbaijani army, supported by weapons provided by Ally Türkiye, has regained a large zone areas organized by the Armenian forces for about thirty years. Russia searched a ceasefire and appointed approximately 2,000 peace forces to the region.

Azerbaijan took back the full control of Karabakh in September 2023. Lightning Military Campaign. Russia, which was busy with its war in Ukraine, did not intervene, angered its leadership that responded by scorable Armenia’s ties with Moscow and supporting relations with the West.

Zafer in Karabakh fueled Azerbaijan’s ambitions and encouraged Aliyev to take a more ambitious attitude in relations with his neighbors.

Accident of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight

On December 25, 2024, a passenger jet of an Azerbaijani airline fell to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian Republic of Chechnya. Azerbaijan officials said that the jet was mistakenly hit by fire from Russian air defenses, then tried to descend to Western Kazakhstan when it collapsed and killed 38 of 67 people on board.

Putin apology He stopped accepting Aliyev for what he calls “tragic event ,, but only accepting responsibility. By the way, Aliyev, Criticized Moscow To work to “silence”.

In May, Aliyev refused to attend the Russian victory day parade in Moscow, along with other leaders of the former Soviet nations. Later in that month, Ukrainian Foreign Minister visited Baku, a sign of closer ties with Kiev.

Police raids lead to increasing tensions

Police on June 27 Raid on the houses A few Ethnic Azerbaijan in Yekaterinburg, the fourth largest city of Russia, became part of an investigation into the murders that extending for decades of the authorities. Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov brothers died and several other ethnic Azerbaijan were seriously injured.

The bodies were sent to Azerbaijan, where the authorities attributed the deaths to the shock after the trauma caused by a large number of injuries ”. The prosecution said that the brothers were beaten and other physical abuse by the Russian police.

Azerbaijan responded by calling the previously planned Russian official visits and cultural events.

Masked on Monday Police pressed Baku offices Sputnik, a media organization financed by the Kremlin, arrested from Azerbaijan and seven employees. The police also gathered eight Russian IT experts and other professionals accused of drug smuggling and cyber crimes. The images of prisoners who were not known for any known criminal records showed that their faces were bad rot. The images caused anger in Russia, where many hawk commentators accused Azerbaijan of treating the Russians as a hostage and called for a difficult response.

On Tuesday, Russia detained the leader of the Azerbaijani community in Yekaterinburg to question. A video on the Russian social media showed that they broke the windows of his vehicle, dragging him and his son out and made them face on the sidewalk. A leading member of the Azerbaijani diaspora was arrested in Voronezh in Russia.

HARD SPEAKING FROM BAKU AND MOSCOVA

After the deaths in Yekaterinburg, Azerbaijan strongly condemned the “demonstration and deliberate judgments and violence acts of violence and violence.

After the arrest of Sputnik employees and other Russians in Baku, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested Azerbaijani’s ambassador to Azerbaijani’s last hostile actions of Baku and the deliberate steps of the Azerbaijani side, and bilateral relations ”.

Azerbaijan withdrew by calling the Russian ambassador to request an investigation to the deaths, punishment and compensation for those responsible for the victims – “It is very important to eliminate the negative atmosphere in bilateral relations”. Moscow’s complaints about the arrest of the Russians in Baku

Aliyev discussed tensions with Russia in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an action that seems to have been designed to break the Kremlin. Zelenskyy said that Baku supported Baku in a situation that “Russia was bullying for Azerbaijani citizens and threatened the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asked about the call on Wednesday, “Ukraine’s fire to add fuel to the fire and to continue the emotional actions to provoke everything possible to provoke the Azerbaijani side.”

Peskov said that the president of Russia’s best investigation agency was in contact with the Chief Public Prosecutor of Azerbaijan. He wouldn’t say that Putin would talk to Aliyev to neutralize the crisis.