07 February 2025, 23:55
“Russian House” in Baku closed to put pressure on Moscow
The official Baku’s demand to close the “Russian House” has become a way to put pressure on Moscow, seeking the Russia’s admission of guilt in a crash of an “Azerbaijan airlines” (AZAL) plane and payment of compensation. The official Baku also wants to demonstrate the independence of its actions without destroying relations with the Kremlin, Azerbaijani and Russian analysts suggest.
On February 6, the authorities of Azerbaijan claimed that the “Russian House” information and cultural centre, a representative office of the “Rossotrudnichestvo” (Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation), was not registered as a legal entity and violated the Azerbaijani law. Therefore, on February 3, a note was sent to the Russian side about the termination of the activities of the “Russian House”, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov expressed the regret over the official Baku’s decision to close the “Russian House”.
The issue on the closure of the “Russian House” in Azerbaijan is of political, not legal nature, and it is related to the Russia’s position, which refuses to acknowledge its responsibility for the crash of the Azerbaijani passenger plane flying from Baku to Grozny, suggests Shakhin Gadjiev, an editor of the “Turan” agency.
Political analyst and legal expert Samed Ragimli, a member of the board of the “Resplatforma” movement, admits that the parties may again agree to continue the activities of the “Russian House”.
“However, I believe that in this case, the scope of the ‘Russian House’ activities will be limited and control over it will be stricter,” political analyst emphasized.
“The fact that the ‘Baku TV’ pro-government Channel called the ‘Russian House’ a ‘spy house’ probably had some actual basis,” stated Emin Guseinov, a human rights defender in exile.
On January 24, the Azerbaijani “Baku TV” Channel referred to “reliable sources” and accused the “Russian House” of participating in anti-Azerbaijani espionage activities under the guise of cultural and humanitarian activities.
Emin Guseinov believes that by having closed the “Russian House”, the Azerbaijani authorities also used the closure for domestic political purposes.
“The message to society has been that the country’s authorities are behaving ‘independently’ and are suppressing any actions against national interests, no matter where they come from: the West, Russia, or anywhere else,” Emin Guseinov emphasized.
On February 6, the Azerbaijani government terminated the activities of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the country.
Political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin* believes that the Baku’s dissatisfaction with the Russian approach to the plane crash became the last straw. “In fact, Ilham Aliev is building a modernized authoritarian regime in which he fears any foreign cultural and political influence, be it from the north, west, or south. Well, maybe with the exception of relations with Turkey,” Dmitry Oreshkin* explained.
It was the Moscow’s position on the plane crash that played a decisive role in the decision to close the “Russian House”, believes Alexander Karavaev, a research fellow at the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies.
In its preliminary report on the Baku-Grozny flight crash, the Kazakhstani side did not provide any clear conclusions about the causes of the plane crash, and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Transportation also commented on the report in an overly delicate manner, Baku analysts noted.
*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 7, 2025 at 09:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Faik Medjid, Nakhim Shelomanov Source: СK correspondents
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