The Azerbaijani state agency AZERTAC has drawn a stark comparison between Russia’s current policies and those of Nazi Germany, arguing that the Kremlin is using war as a tool for internal repression and external coercion. The report states that following Azerbaijan’s entry into the European gas market and its emergence as a strategic transit hub, Moscow has significantly intensified its pressure on Baku. The killings of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg are described as part of this broader policy.
Key points from the AZERTAC analysis include:
– Tightening legislation during wartime may be understandable for a multiethnic state like Russia, but the politicization of this process and its use as an instrument of pressure raise serious questions.
– Russia’s domestic politics increasingly resemble 1930s Germany: total propaganda and total control. Its foreign policy, a direct extension of its internal affairs, employs similar coercive methods.
– Members of the Azerbaijani diaspora, like other ethnic minorities, are subjected to systemic pressure. However, the brutal killing of innocent Azerbaijanis by special forces in Yekaterinburg on June 27 had clear criminal overtones. The victims were demonstrably innocent.
– The promised “two-day victory” over Ukraine never materialized. The war has dragged on for a fourth year, with Ukraine receiving substantial Western support. Russia’s economy is being drained, and its human resources exhausted.
– While oligarchs’ children vacation in Europe and Asia, their photos and videos spark public outrage. Meanwhile, minorities are disproportionately sent to the front lines to die—causing unrest in Russia’s ethnically autonomous regions.
– Western sanctions have exacerbated Russia’s social and economic decline. Annual inflation has reached 11.13%. The ruble has more than halved in value. Where Russia once held 26% of Europe’s gas market, it now commands just 5%.
– Amid mobilization and high casualty rates among minorities, public dissatisfaction grows—but is silenced by state media. In place of addressing real issues, the Kremlin revives imperial rhetoric and fabricates new external enemies.
– Russia still refuses to treat former Soviet republics as equal sovereign states, continuing to exert military and political pressure on them. Historically, it has failed to protect any of its allies during crises—from Hungary and Czechoslovakia to Syria and Iraq.
– The Kremlin is deliberately stoking regional tensions to distract from domestic problems. The political comeback of the Kocharyan–Sargsyan tandem in Armenia and attacks on the current government over the loss of Karabakh are also seen as elements of Moscow’s regional strategy.
– “Migrant hunts” intensify during such periods, with accusations of drug trafficking, terrorism, and economic disruption—despite migrants largely taking on difficult, low-paid jobs shunned by Russian citizens.
– The killing of five Azerbaijanis shortly after the crash of a Baku–Grozny flight defies legal, logical, and moral standards. Attempts by propagandists like Vladimir Solovyov to justify such actions are futile.
– Since the liberation of Karabakh, Azerbaijan has become a model of stability and development. It actively participates in key international projects—from supplying natural gas to Europe to serving as a strategic transit bridge between Central Asia and the West. In many of these, Azerbaijan is a leading driver.
– For these very reasons, Russia is increasing its pressure on Baku. Provocations—from the deportation of an Azerbaijani MP to manipulations over exports—cast doubt on the authenticity of the “alliance” between the two countries.
AZERTAC emphasizes that such a policy undermines regional stability, destroys trust, and intensifies confrontation. If Moscow truly seeks to maintain regional cooperation and partnership, it must first abandon its hostile stance toward countries it claims to regard as allies.
