Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned Russian ambassador Mikhail Yevdokimov on August 18 to protest what it called provocative, insulting and threatening statements against Azerbaijan, its people and leadership circulating in Russian media, a day after the Prosecutor General's Office placed three Russian citizens on an international wanted list.

The dispute coincided with the deportation of Bakhtiyar Hasanov, chairman of the Moscow Azerbaijani National-Cultural Autonomy, from Russia, deepening strains between the two countries that have built up over the past two years.

The Prosecutor General's Office said on August 17 that Ivan Knyazev, a presenter on the Moskva 24 television channel, political consultant and media expert Semyon Uralov, and Aleksey Chadayev, an adviser to Russia's transport minister who also works as a television correspondent, are accused of inciting terrorism, calling for the forcible change of Azerbaijan's constitutional order, and stirring ethnic hatred and enmity. A criminal case has been opened under articles 214-2, 281.2 and 283.2.1 of the Criminal Code, and a Baku court has ordered their arrest in absentia.

According to the prosecutor's office, the accusations relate to two episodes of the YouTube programme "Chistota Ponimaniya" ("Purity of Understanding"), broadcast on Uralov's channel on July 14 and August 13, in which the presenters allegedly called for the use of violent methods against Azerbaijan, discussed interference in the country's internal political processes, and referred to individuals being kept under threat of physical elimination and being "taken out" in a targeted manner. As the men are outside Azerbaijan, prosecutors said they have asked partner states to locate and detain them, and have sought an international search through Interpol channels for their extradition to Azerbaijan.

Chadayev resigned from his post as adviser to the transport minister following the announcement, saying in a Telegram post on August 18 that he had decided to step down. He has rejected the incitement-to-hatred accusation, saying his criticism was directed at Azerbaijan's political leadership rather than its people. Uralov has described the Azerbaijani authorities' move as politically motivated and has continued his rhetoric against post-Soviet governments, including Azerbaijan's, in subsequent Telegram posts.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's statement on August 18 also referenced other broadcasts it deemed hostile, including a Sputnik radio programme on August 7 concerning claims that Azerbaijan's leadership had been placed on a Russian list of terrorists and extremists, and further material aired on the Spas television channel on August 16. The ministry said discussion of interference in Azerbaijan's domestic political processes and calls for physical violence against its people and leadership were unacceptable, adding that Baku expected urgent and effective measures from Moscow to end what it called provocations, threats and violent rhetoric in the Russian information space.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded that the views of the individuals named do not reflect Russian government policy, saying Russian-Azerbaijani relations should continue to develop on the basis of the existing bilateral legal framework, including the Declaration on Allied Interaction signed in Moscow on February 22 2022, according to a report by NEWS.ru cited by Report.

Azerbaijan's Press Council issued a statement describing the offensive and threatening material carried in some Russian outlets as wholly at odds with the principles of civil journalism and ethical norms, and called on Russia's media community and authorities to take serious measures. The council said the systematic appearance of such material under Russia's tightly regulated media environment amounted, in its view, to tacit endorsement at the level of state policy, and warned that those responsible bore legal liability.

Hasanov, who had for years cooperated with Russian state diaspora and inter-ethnic relations structures, was deported from Russia on August 17 after being held since June at a temporary detention centre for foreign nationals, according to open sources. Independent outlet Agentstvo reported in autumn 2025 that a passport issued to Hasanov in 2019 had been listed as invalid in Russia's state database, before he was formally stripped of his Russian citizenship in September 2025; Hasanov denied the reports at the time. He is among a number of prominent members of Azerbaijan's diaspora in Russia to have been stripped of citizenship, detained or deported since summer 2025, including Arshad Khankishiyev, Elshan Ibrahimov and Javid Rzayev.

While no evidence directly links the timing of Hasanov's deportation to the prosecutor's announcement the same day, both developments fit a broader pattern of deteriorating relations between Baku and Moscow. Tensions have been building since the crash of an AZAL passenger plane near Aktau in December 2024, followed in 2025 by the detention of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg, during which brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov died in custody. Russia's Investigative Committee said the men died of heart failure; Azerbaijani forensic experts said they died from multiple injuries. Baku responded by detaining Russian nationals working at the Baku office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, saying they were linked to Russian security services and under investigation for illegal financing; they were released in October 2025 following talks between the two presidents' aides.

Relations saw a degree of easing after Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin met in Dushanbe on October 9 2025, when Putin reiterated an earlier apology over the plane crash and said compensation would be paid; Russia confirmed in April 2026 that it was ready to make the payment.

The latest friction comes as Azerbaijan has more visibly diverged from Moscow's position on Ukraine. Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov visited Kyiv and Irpin on August 6, his first official visit since Russia's full-scale invasion, reaffirming Azerbaijan's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity within internationally recognised borders and discussing possible gas supplies to Ukraine. Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko visited Baku on August 16-17 and met Aliyev, who was presented with honorary citizenship of Irpin, a gesture likely to be read in Moscow as symbolic.

An international wanted notice, including an Interpol red notice, does not constitute an international arrest warrant; Interpol's statutes bar it from involvement in matters of a political, military, religious or racial character, meaning the outcome of Baku's request will depend on how individual states assess the case.