On the Breakdown of Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia

Alik Bakhshi

On the Breakdown of Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia

The recent breakdown in relations between Baku and Moscow was entirely expected. Russia's aggressive imperial policies have never been supported by Azerbaijan, and the ethnic persecution of Azerbaijanis in Russia has exposed the aggressive nature of the Russian state and the Russian people toward other nations. Some believe that Putin is to blame, but this is far from the truth, as everything Putin does finds support among the Russian people. Perhaps I'm just unlucky, but I haven't met a single Russian who condemns Putin. I was shocked to see a long line of Russian Israelis at the Tel Aviv embassy voting for Putin during the presidential election. I'm sure that Russians living in Azerbaijan also support Putin. Russians, like those in Ukraine or Lithuania, are a fifth column, supporting the lies emanating from the Kremlin. Aliyev did the right thing by shutting down Sputnik, known for its espionage and propaganda activities. It's no wonder this Russian organization was shut down in many countries. I personally experienced Russian media activity. Ten years ago, not on the Russian, but on the Azerbaijani Russian-language forum Bakililar.az the administration there blocked me for my anti-Putin articles without any explanation. Incidentally, I'm still banned from publishing there. I have no doubt that, given the opportunity, Russians in Azerbaijan will reveal their feelings about the country they live in, as happened in Ukraine.

Today, the Kremlin has unleashed all its full-time propagandists on Azerbaijan and President Aliyev, who, you see, dared to call on the Russian authorities to maintain order and justice in accordance with the law.

Some readers have seen my words as inciting hatred toward the Russian people. As an example, I'll cite a comment on my Facebook page from a certain Oleg Namazov, who expressed outrage at my characterization of the Russian people as Great Russian chauvinism.
Oleg Namazov:
In the USSR, things weren't like they are now. I said and did whatever I wanted, and the chauvinism was of the utmost proportions. And yet, I could confidently prove any truth to Russians, just like an Azerbaijani, whether in Moscow or Irkutsk. And so, this point of view of yours is also part of the toolkit of those who pull strings and manipulate public opinion...

Oleg Namazov, you're saying the chauvinism was of the utmost proportions? Doesn't the fact that all higher education textbooks were in Russian mean anything to you? Dissertations were required to be written exclusively in Russian. In other words, the entire elite, the entire cultural stratum of any people in the USSR, had to be represented in Russian. The national languages of the peoples were in danger of disappearing. Russians generally didn't know the language of the indigenous peoples in the republics and even mocked those who spoke Russian poorly. And if anyone protested this situation, they would be labelling a nationalist and, at best, sent to a mental hospital. The national republics were subjected to state-sponsored plunder. Have you ever wondered why, when the country was starving, people went to Moscow for sausage and butter? You say you did whatever you wanted in the USSR, but your desires were very limited, like a bug that needs nothing more than an acre of blood. I, too, wanted fried potatoes back then, but the butter disappeared from the grocery stores in Baku. I had no choice but to fly to Moscow to fulfill my desire. I bought 15 kg of butter, which I melted in the student dorm. The smell of melted butter permeated the entire floor. Oleg Namazov probably hasn't wondered why Moscow has everything, while Baku doesn't even have such a basic commodity as butter.

Azerbaijan, having freed itself from Moscow, has been transformed, and this is a clear example of what independence from Russia has brought. And what kind of Russian people are they, who overwhelmingly vote for Putin and consider Crimea and Ukraine Russian soil, is evident from the atrocities they witnessed in Bucha and Baku. This is chauvinism, which you've sized up to the size of a bedbug. Rather, your dear fellow, you have the brain of a bedbug.

And the USSR, by its very nature, was a gigantic bedbug, sucking the blood of other peoples, reducing them to poverty. And when everything had been sucked dry, Moscow, realizing it had nothing left to feed itself with, issued a cry: "We have nothing left to feed the other republics with." And now that the free republics have grown stronger, it has smelled fresh blood. This is the essence of Russia and its people. It is the people who determine the place where they live. As the saying goes, it's not the place that makes the man, but the man that makes the place. So, the people of Russia are like their country. And Russia is an aggressor, and it's not Putin's fault, but the Russian people. However, this applies to any nation. No one but the people is responsible for everything they've done. In short, the country is like the people. For example, Finland is the most prosperous country, and it owes its prosperity to the people who live there. Finland has no oil or gas, a quarter of the country is covered in snow for eight months, while Russia has oil, gas, and fertile soil, yet its people live in poverty. Relocate Finns to Russia, and Russians to Finland, and it's not hard to imagine what prosperous Finland would become, and how Russia would be transformed. Finns work and create wealth, build enormous airliners, produce telephones—in other words, they produce everything for the benefit of the people—while Russians create Kalashnikovs to rob and kill people. There you have it, a distinctive feature, in this case, of the Russian people, from other nations.

05.07.2025