Tensions Escalate Between Azerbaijan and Russia Following Police Raids and Media Crackdown

Baku, Azerbaijan – June 30, 2025: Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Russia have sharply deteriorated after a series of deadly police raids in Russia and retaliatory actions in Azerbaijan, raising concerns about regional stability.

The crisis began last week when Russian law enforcement conducted mass arrests in Yekaterinburg, targeting what authorities described as an “ethnic criminal group” linked to murders from the early 2000s. Among those detained were Azerbaijani-born Russian citizens, with two brothers, Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, dying during the operation and several others seriously injured. Russian officials initially withheld information about the deaths, later stating that one man died of heart failure while the cause of the second death remains under investigation. In total, around 50 people were arrested during the raids.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the incident as a “brutal killing” and summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires in protest. The Azerbaijani government labeled the deaths as “demonstrative targeted and extrajudicial killings” carried out on ethnic grounds. In response, Azerbaijan’s Culture Ministry canceled all Russian-linked concerts, exhibitions, and festivals, while parliament withdrew from a scheduled bilateral meeting in Moscow. A planned visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk was also canceled.

Tensions escalated further on Monday when Azerbaijani police raided the Baku offices of Russian state-funded news outlet Sputnik, detaining several journalists, including Sputnik Azerbaijan’s editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov and director Igor Kartavykh. Authorities claimed Sputnik continued to operate illegally after its accreditation was revoked in February 2025. Images circulated in Azerbaijani media showed masked police detaining individuals at the scene.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Moscow to protest the detentions, calling them “illegal.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressed regret over Azerbaijan’s cancellation of Russian cultural events and emphasized Moscow’s desire to maintain good relations, stating that the Yekaterinburg raids were strictly law enforcement actions and should not provoke such a reaction.

Relations between the two countries have been strained for months, notably after a December 2024 incident in which a Russian air defense missile shot down an Azerbaijani passenger jet over Chechnya, resulting in 38 deaths. Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an apology but stopped short of accepting full responsibility, attributing the incident to air defense measures against a possible Ukrainian drone strike.

The current diplomatic standoff, marked by accusations of repression and imperialism from Azerbaijan and muted responses from Moscow, has heightened fears of further instability in the South Caucasus region.