By Aytan Farhadova
On January 27, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Rahman Mustafayev met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin. While the official statement by Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that they had “invited” Mustafayev, some Azerbaijani media outlets wrote that he had been “summoned.”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has not yet commented on the circumstances of the meeting.
Although relations between Russia and Azerbaijan have long been stable, as illustrated by a high-profile visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Baku in August 2024, the crash of a Azerbaijan Airlines flight in December — which Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said was Russia’s fault — has caused those bilateral ties to fray.
The official web page of Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated that Galuzin had invited Mustafaev to discuss several issues between Azerbaijan and Russia. The Russian side emphasized the “absolute importance of building relations between Russia and Azerbaijan in the spirit of strategic partnership and alliance based on the declaration signed at the highest level on 22 February 2022, in the national interests of both states.”
“In this regard, bewilderment was expressed over a series of recent anti-Russian publications in the Azerbaijani media, as well as in relation to the disinformation campaign against the Russian House in Baku. The absolute groundlessness of the accusations made was noted”, the ministry’s press release said.