Azerbaijani Diaspora Leader Faces Citizenship Revocation Amid Russia-Azerbaijan Tensions

The leader of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Moscow region announced on Friday that Russian authorities had rescinded his citizenship, stating his intention to return to Azerbaijan as diplomatic tensions rise between the two nations.

A video released late Thursday by an anonymous Telegram channel seemed to show officials informing Elshan Ibragimov that his Russian citizenship had been annulled retroactively as of June 18.

The Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti verified the video’s authenticity with Ibragimov, who chose not to provide any additional comments. Azerbaijani media reported that Ibragimov pledged to share more information upon his return to Azerbaijan “in a few days.”

According to unnamed sources referenced by the RBC news agency, Ibragimov is being expelled for “activities threatening Russia’s national security.”

By Friday afternoon, Ibragimov’s profile was deleted from the Moscow region’s public commission website, where he had been listed as the head of the regional Azerbaijani cultural autonomy and a member of the regional council for national cultural organizations.

Russia and Azerbaijan reached a new low in their relations this week following a series of police operations in Russia, targeting ethnic Azerbaijanis linked to murders dating back to the early 2000s.

During widespread arrests in Yekaterinburg, two Azerbaijani men lost their lives, while six others faced charges of murder and attempted murder, and were placed in pre-trial detention. A local Azerbaijani community leader was also violently apprehended but later released after being interrogated as a witness.

In response, Baku initiated a criminal investigation into the deaths of the two men, accusing Russian police of torture and intentional killings, while Moscow accused Azerbaijan of meddling in its internal law enforcement affairs.

In what appears to be a retaliatory move, Azerbaijani authorities reported the detention of at least 10 Russian nationals, including two employed by the Kremlin-funded Sputnik news agency, while the others are suspected of involvement in cybercrimes and drug trafficking.

As the situation escalates, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called for calm on Thursday, attributing the tensions to “certain external forces” attempting to create discord within the “strategic alliance” between the two countries.