Magerram Zeynalov & Grigor Atanesian
BBC News Russian
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Two Russian state media staff were accused of working for the FSB in Azerbaijan on Monday
The deaths of two brothers in Russian detention challenged Moscow’s dominant role in the South Caucasus and exposed diplomatic rifts with Azerbaijan in order to establish themselves as a regional force.
Both Azerbaijani men showed signs of trauma, Baku officials revealed on Tuesday, with government media blaming Russia’s Vladimir Putin for police violence.
Azerbaijani authorities have already arrested two Russian state media employees and accused them of being agents of the FSB.
There was already high tension between the two neighbors. Last December, 38 people were killed when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane was shot down by a Russian anti-aircraft missile that was clearly misplaced.
This latest SPAT began last Friday when a Russian police operation in Yekaterinburg targeted a suspect as part of a cold case murder inquiry dating back to 2001.
Two of the suspects, brothers Ziyadin and Gusein Safarov, born in Azerbaijani, were taken into custody, while several others were taken to hospital.
Azerbaijani prosecutors have now launched a criminal case in which Russian police accused them of torture and intentionally murdering their brothers. After his death in Azerbaijan, he was found to have been severely beaten during detention and then died from “post-traumatic” shock.
Russian law enforcement said one of the men had died of a heart attack and the cause of the second death was not confirmed.
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President Aliyev demanded that Russia acknowledges full responsibility when the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was shot down
In response, Baku cancelled any upcoming visits by all shows involving Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Oberchuk and Russian artists.
The Azerbaijani media, with government-linked opposed Putin, saying his rule was even more cruel than that of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who sent millions of people to death camps.
When Azerbaijan Airlines planes fell in December last year, Putin offered an apology, but that failed to satisfy Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.
Aliyev requested full approval of responsibility and a comprehensive investigation. It sparked a propaganda war, where Baku accused Russian cultural organisations of spying and called for the closure of the Baku branch of Russia’s national media outlet Sputnik.
Sputnik continued to operate this week, until when Azerbaijani police stormed the Baku Bureau and detained two employees named Igor Kartaviv and Yevgeny Belusov. Authorities claim that both are affiliated with the FSB, a Russian security service. Russia has denied this, saying that the arrest is “unjust.”
Reuters
When Azerbaijan Airlines planes fell in December last year, 38 people died and 29 others survived.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, newly independent Azerbaijan has maintained a distance from Russia, and has partnered with the West to develop vast oil and gas resources. A certain sticking point was Moscow’s support for Armenia during the 1992-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
However, when Ilham Aliyev took over the president from his father in 2003, the young educated ruler of Moscow was able to find a common language with Putin.
In 2020, Russia stood aside when Azerbaijan won a new war with Armenia. That victory changed the balance of power in the South Caucasus. There, Aliyev now sees himself as the dominant player not only economically but also military.
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine further eroded the impact of Moscow in the region.
Aliyev and Putin signed a declaration declaring the allies of the two countries, but Azerbaijan maintained an independent stance. They “occupied” the Russian-owned portion of Ukraine and sent humanitarian assistance to Kiev.
Despite the differences, Moscow continued to have a close relationship with Baku. This has remained closely associated with Baku due to Azerbaijan’s role in key energy and transport routes, including the North and South Corridors that link Russia with the Asian market.
Azerbaijan has no direct competition with Russia, but it is challenging Russia’s dominant role in the South Caucasus, according to Zaursiliev, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Russian Eurasian Centre.
He believes Baku is wary of the potential revival of Russian influence in Georgia, a key transport country for Azerbaijan exports.
Azerbaijani officials are equally opposed to Armenian pro-Russian faction reverting, particularly to the efforts to reconcile Nagorno-Karabakh.
“It appears that Azerbaijan is sending a message that it is not willing to passively accept Russia’s actions, especially when its own interests are at stake,” Silyev told the BBC.
