Russian propaganda threatens Azerbaijan with war over support for Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin media have intensified anti-Baku rhetoric, escalating accusations against the country of being “Western sellouts.” 

On 11 August, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree allocating $2 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine following Russian strikes on the state-owned SOCAR’s oil depot in Odesa Oblast and a gas compressor station that transports Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine.

The funds will be used to purchase electrical equipment for Ukraine.

“The Russian propaganda has launched a new wave of harsh anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric, ranging from accusations of being ‘Western sellouts’ to direct threats of war,” says the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

Moscow is losing control over the South Caucasus 

As explained by the Center, the Kremlin is increasingly losing influence over Azerbaijan and can no longer impose its political or economic will. Therefore, Kremlin propaganda intensifies pressure through threats and war rhetoric to rally its domestic audience.

“Moscow can no longer dictate its political or economic will to Azerbaijan. Thus, propaganda tries to compensate for the loss of real leverage with threats,” the Center notes.

Azerbaijan strengthens its fight against Russian propaganda

Baku is actively freeing itself from Russian dominance: recently, the “Russkiy Dom” was closed, and the activities of Russian propaganda media have been restricted in the country.

The “Russkiy Dom” in Baku was a Russian information and cultural center functioning as a representative office of the agency engaged in strengthening Russia’s humanitarian influence abroad, in Azerbaijan. The center faced accusations of espionage activities disguised as cultural work.

Azerbaijan has cancelled all planned cultural events hosted alongside Russian state and private organizations, the country's Culture Ministry announced on June 29, over the deaths of two Azerbaijani citizens during police raids in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said on June 28 that Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov died during a raid carried out by Russian authorities. Azerbaijan called the killings "ethnically motivated public and deliberate unlawful actions" and said that Russia's action have "recently taken on a systematic nature."

The raid was reportedly conducted amid an investigation into an unsolved 2001 murder. Several other people were injured in the raid and a total of nine individuals were detained.

In a comment to Azerbaijani public broadcaster ITV, Sayfaddin Huseynli, the brother of the deceased, claimed that the two men were tortured to death "without any trial or investigation, despite their innocence."

The official cause of death was not immediately known.

As a result of the incident, Azerbaijani state media also reported that the government had cancelled a planned visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, stating that the country "does not consider it appropriate under the current circumstances for Overchuk or any other official representative of Russia to visit."

Tensions between Baku and Moscow have continued to sour in recent months since Russia's downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that killed 67 passengers. Since then, Azerbaijani lawmaker have blamed Russia for February cyberattack, and the country's President Ilham Aliyev skipped out on attending Russia’s Victory Day parade in Moscow in May.

As relations dwindle, Ukraine has sought to build relations with Baku. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also visited Azerbaijan in May.

In February, Aliyev's office announced it was delivering $1 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine in the form of electrical equipment to support the country's energy grid amid Russian attacks.

Azerbaijan's primary regional foe, Armenia, also a historic ally of Moscow, has also effectively severed relations with the Kremlin.

Earlier this year, Yerevan formally signed a law to begin Armenia's accession process to the European Union. The decision comes growing rift with Russia accelerated after the Kremlin failed to prevent Azerbaijan's September 2023 offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, leading to the mass exodus of the region's Armenian population.

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The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk