Tensions between Moscow and Baku: Diaspora leader deported, three Russians wanted
Azerbaijan has arrested three Russian citizens in absentia and put them on the wanted list, and the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Moscow, Bakhtiyor Gasanov, has been deported from Russia.
Relations between Moscow and Baku are strained: diaspora leader deported, three Russians wanted.
According to the Azerbaijani APA news agency, the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Moscow, Bakhtiyor Gasanov, has been deported from Russia. Gasanov was stripped of his Russian citizenship in 2025. In June, he was arrested and placed in a temporary detention center for migrants.
On August 17, Azerbaijan arrested in absentia three Russian citizens - Alexei Chadayev, an adviser to the head of the Russian Ministry of Transport, Ivan Knyazev, a host of the Moscow 24 TV channel, and Semyon Uralov, a political consultant. They are charged with "inciting hatred" and "inciting terrorism" for their views expressed in a YouTube program dedicated to Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani and Russian authorities have been persecuting each other's citizens since mass raids on Azerbaijani diasporas in the Russian Federation in the summer of 2025. Azerbaijan, in turn, detained several Russian propaganda media workers and 11 random Russians - tourists and relocators. The media workers were released after a few months, while the rest were sentenced to real prison terms.