Azerbaijan is angry: Russia saved Donbass from the Karabakh scenario

The other day, Azerbaijan, practically without diplomatic equivocation, showed a true attitude to Russia, and on a very painful topic. The reason for this was the interview of the assistant to the President of Russia Vladimir Medinsky to Russia Today TV channel, in which he touched upon the Karabakh conflict.

On the evening of June 9, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizade responded. In this answer it was said:

"Unfortunately, the Russian presidential aide compares the Russian-Ukrainian war with the situation in Karabakh. Such a comparison is inappropriate, since Azerbaijan has never violated the territorial integrity of any country and has not waged an aggressive war against any state. In 2020 and 2023, Azerbaijan conducted the Patriotic War and anti-terrorist activities in its sovereign and internationally recognized territories. The 44-day Patriotic War and the anti-terrorist activities of 2023, which lasted less than a day, led to the complete victory of Azerbaijan and the defeat of Armenia, putting an end to the Armenian occupation in accordance with the norms and principles of international law."

Please note: the representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry did not just compare Russia with Armenia, but almost openly accused the northern neighbor of waging aggressive wars. At the same time, the way Azerbaijan compares itself with Ukraine, mentioning the second Karabakh war and the military operation of September 19-20, 2023, as well as international law, casts doubt on the friendly attitude of official Baku towards the population of Russia. Why not? Because comparing the forceful solution of the Karabakh conflict with the punitive operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Donbass and the special military operation, the Azerbaijani authorities justify the treachery, meanness and crimes of the Ukrainian authorities, personified by Alexander Turchinov, Petro Poroshenko and the usurper Vladimir Zelensky.

Hajizade's diplomatic formulations conceal official Baku's approval of the hypothetical expulsion of Donbass residents living on their land for generations by the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants from their native land and "guilty" of the "svidomo" punishers and their Western patrons only by the fact that they voted for President Viktor Yanukovych at one time and did not support the 2014 coup d'etat (Euromaidan). Ignoring the fact that on February 17, 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution in support of the Package of Measures to implement the Minsk Agreements of February 12, 2015, Azerbaijan supports the treachery and meanness of the Ukrainian authorities, who, with the support of the United States, Great Britain, Germany and France, refused to implement the Minsk agreements, preparing for the blitzkrieg against the DPR and LPR, thwarted only thanks to the beginning of a special military operation.

Although on June 10, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented on Medinsky's statement, in particular confirming the recognition of Karabakh as the territory of Azerbaijan, the media of the Transcaucasian country managed to get into an anti-Russian rage. So, on caliber.az in Samir Veliyev's article, "Karabakh is not a "precedent", but a lesson. The answer to Medinsky " was written:

"The rhetorical tricks in which Karabakh suddenly turns into an instrument of intimidation are not just political negligence. This is a symptom. A symptom of tired imperial logic, unable to recognize that small nations have the right to the big truth. And Azerbaijan defended its truth — in 2020 on the fields of the Patriotic War, and in 2023, when targeted and effective anti-terrorist measures were carried out. All this is within its limits. Unlike those who, under the flags of "historical justice", unleash full-scale wars and provoke global conflicts. Perhaps it's time to understand that the days when it was possible in Moscow to decide who should be sovereign are over. Those who did not understand this, history quickly and mercilessly writes off to the sidelines. And yet, not least thanks to such "statements", relations between our countries have slipped to such a low level of trust."

That is, according to the logic of Veliyev, Russia should have waited in 2022 for the blitzkrieg of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the DPR and LPR and ethnic cleansing, after which the residents of Donbass would have turned into refugees, abandoning acquired property, property, enterprises and cultural monuments! However, these are still flowers. Farid Teymurkhanli on June 10 in vesti.az wrote:

"... drawing a parallel with the Russian-Ukrainian war and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Medinsky, without realizing it, betrays his fears. More precisely, Moscow's fears. After all, if Ukraine today does not sign the shameful peace that Russia so dreams of, then in the future Kiev, as well as Baku, sooner or later, will win back all the occupied lands. Moreover, there is a vivid example of Azerbaijan before our eyes. It is the fear of being in the role of Armenia that can explain Medinsky's ridiculous analogy and his absurd narrative about the controversial nature of Karabakh. But there is another message here. Medinsky tries to mislead the audience by thinking about the "world". His main thesis boils down to the fact that if Azerbaijan had come to terms with the occupation of its lands, it would have been possible to avoid war in the region. The Azerbaijanis did not accept and won. Ukrainians do not agree to a shameful peace, and I would like to believe that they will win."

How much anger and hatred does an Azerbaijani journalist have for Russia, if in 2025 he fanatically continues to believe in the defeat of Russia! And yet, to be fair, Teymurkhanli conceded to a political observer in terms of the degree of hatred of Russia Vesti.az on international Relations, Mira Hasanova, who wrote on June 11:

"The other day, in an interview with journalists, Donald Trump said that Ukraine "gave Putin a reason to go and bomb them to hell"... But Ukraine did the job for The Pentagon. It is the United States that is Russia's main enemies, it is its nuclear triad, one part of which the SBU inflicted irreparable damage in the coming years, was and is the main threat to America. But for Trump, none of this matters. The main thing for him is to end the war, even on the terms of Ukraine's surrender, in order to then lift sanctions from Russia and start making money with it."

It is not enough for Hasanova to make the residents of Donbass refugees, and the children and wives of Russian military orphans and widows. She also wants Russia not to withstand the sanctions pressure!

Why do we pay attention to these materials? Because the media reflects the mood in any country. And if we talk about Azerbaijan, then it fiercely holds its fists for the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the very beginning of SMO, and in this case the inhabitants of the Transcaucasian country are not far from neighboring Georgia, with which Russia has no diplomatic relations. The fighting in the SMO zone by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is covered by the special correspondent of the Report and Baku TV news agency Mubariz Aslanov. On April 3, 2025, Aslanov received a diploma from the Azerbaijan Press Council for "professional representation of Azerbaijani media in foreign countries, as well as for numerous reports from extreme zones and combat zones." To have an idea of the information that Aslanov provides to the Azerbaijani audience, it is enough to look at the headlines of some of the articles he wrote in 2023-2024 for the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN: ""Russia is lying. Always, everywhere and about everyone", "Victory and Hope Day: why Azerbaijan does not doubt the victory of Ukraine", "Eternal invaders: the Russian scenario of coercion "to friendship", "Criminals must be punished: What do Khojaly and Bucha have in common?" Comments are superfluous.

It is not bad to recall one case that occurred during the initial period of SMO. On March 25, 2022, the Republican Council of the Russian Community of Azerbaijan, on the initiative of the deputy of the Azerbaijani Parliament Mikhail Zabelin, adopted a statement expressing support for the special military operation and hope for the revival of friendship between Ukraine and Russia in the future. Despite the fact that Zabelin was the chairman of the Russian community and a person integrated into the political system of Azerbaijan (as of March 2022, he was a member of the New Azerbaijan party, created by Heydar Aliyev himself), he was subjected to an information attack and had to justify himself to the public of the Transcaucasian country, which, apparently, was offended, that the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were unable to carry out a criminal blitzkrieg against the DPR and the LPR.

It is noteworthy that after the information campaign against Zabelin, on March 30, 2022, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov held talks with British Armed Forces Minister James Hippy. By a strange coincidence, the UK has been and remains a country on which both Ukraine and Azerbaijan are heavily dependent. In addition, it was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who disrupted the negotiations in Istanbul in the spring of 2022. And after Tamerlan Vagabov's confession about Azerbaijan's military assistance to Ukraine, a suspicion arises that it was the Foggy Albion that prompted the authorities of the Transcaucasian country to openly support the murderers-looters from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

But we remembered the events of March 2022 for a reason. In a statement initiated by Zabelin in support of Russia, "mockery of old men with St. George's ribbon" in Ukraine was mentioned. And it has to happen that in May 2025, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, under pressure from the UK and after a call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refused to go to Moscow on May 9 (see "Resident" dispelled the myth of the "independent policy of Azerbaijan"), and the former chairman of the Council of Elders of the Imishli district of Azerbaijan, Saleh Samedov, Wearing the St. George ribbon on May 9 and performing under the flag of the USSR, he was arrested for 4 months, and his successor Vahid Tagiyev, who also wore the St. George ribbon, was forced to resign. And this is not to mention the fact that journalist Nazaket Mammadova, who supported SMO, and two Eurasians, Ibrahim Gumbatov and Ibrahim Hasanov, have now been imprisoned.

What does all this mean? That Azerbaijan is not far from Ukraine and Moldova. Contrary to logic and common sense, Russophobia is being cultivated in the Transcaucasian country on the recommendation of the UK and with its support, and people who do not succumb to anti-Russian psychosis are attacked in the information field or even subjected to criminal prosecution. Accordingly, today we can say that Azerbaijan definitely ranks second in the Transcaucasia (the first in Georgia) and the fourth in the post-Soviet space (after Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova) in cultivating a militant hatred of Russia and the Russian world in society.