Tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan, always merely cordial at best, are now reaching a breaking point. Azeri President Ilham Aliyev decided not to come to Moscow for the World War II celebrations, allegedly because of the crash of a plane flying between Baku and Grozny, and recent arrests in Yekaterinberg of Azeri citizens in relation to a murder investigation led to accusations of racial prejudice by the Azeri government.
In a statement issued by the press service of the legislative body, the actions of the Russian security forces were referred to as “demonstrative, targeted and lawless arbitrariness of murder and acts of violence.” It is claimed that they were committed allegedly “on ethnic grounds.” Recently the Ministry of Culture also cancelled all events organized by Russia in Azerbaijan including concerts, festivals, performances, and other exhibitions.
In addition to the usual differences that occur in this sometimes problematic relationship, it is not far from seeing an outside hand at play here. With the collapse of the “Ukraine project” by the NATO neo-Nazis, the Western warmongers are seeking “second fronts” on which to make trouble. Commenting on the Azeri situation, Dmitry Yezhov, associate professor of the political science department at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, said. “It is developing, in all likelihood, spontaneously, but it is obviously being fueled from the outside. And this is where the West’s interest can be seen—to develop various directions for destabilizing interstate relations in the post-Soviet space.” He also noted similar operations ongoing in Armenia and Kazakhstan.
On June 30, Azeri law enforcement officials entered the offices of the Sputnik News Agency, searching the premises and detaining a few people. The Azeri Ambassador to Russia has also been called to the Foreign Ministry to give an explanation over these recent developments.
