Arrests of Azerbaijani Diaspora Leaders in Russia Take Place Amid Diplomatic Issues

Vidadi Mustafayev

Recently, the Azerbaijani community in the Ural area of Russia, especially in Yekaterinburg, has experienced upset because its leaders were taken into custody on criminal accusations.

The most recent reported arrest includes Vidadi Mustafayev, the new leader of the Azerbaijan-Ural public group. Mustafayev is facing fraud accusations related to land sales. His arrest comes after his predecessor, Shahin Shikhlinksi, was taken into custody in the summer of 2025 on very serious accusations, like murder (Article 105) and using violence against a state official (Article 318).

These arrests happened during a bigger operation by the Russian Investigative Committee (SK) on June 28, 2025, targeting Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg. The raids were reportedly part of an attempt to solve contract killings that happened 10 to 20 years ago. Over 50 Azerbaijanis, including community representatives, were taken into custody during the operation. Sadly, two brothers, Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, died. Even though the Russian SK said that heart failure was the cause of death, Azerbaijani forensic experts figured out that the deaths were caused by many injuries.

These local events occurred when diplomatic relations between Baku and Moscow were already strained. Things got tense after the shooting down of an AZAL passenger plane over Grozny on December 25, 2024. Baku demanded an apology, payment, and punishment for those responsible from Moscow.

The diplomatic situation got worse with more reciprocal detentions. On July 1, 2025, eight Russian citizens were arrested in Baku on accusations related to drug dealing and cyber fraud. The detentions also included Igor Kartavykh, the Executive Director of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and Yevgeny Belousov, its Chief Editor.

A meeting between Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Vladimir Putin of Russia in Dushanbe on October 9, 2025, showed an attempt to make peace. During the meeting, President Putin said that he had apologized to Aliyev for the December crash during a prior phone call and promised that payment would be made. After this high-level meeting, Kartavykh and Belousov were freed and quickly went back to Russia.