Russia urges Azerbaijan to repair ties with Moscow amid diplomatic crisis

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FILE PHOTO: Spokesperson of Russias Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova attends the annual press conference held by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, January 14, 2025. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo

MOSCOW/BAKU - The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged Azerbaijan to restore its ties with Moscow to a level befitting strategic cooperation after saying that certain forces were trying to wreck the two countries relationship.

The diplomatic row began last week after two ethnic Azerbaijanis died during police raids in Russia and escalated after Baku then arrested two Russian state journalists and a further roughly 15 more Russians on suspicion of drug trafficking and cybercrime.

Azerbaijan says post-mortems conducted in Baku on the two men who died in Russia showed they were beaten to death - though Moscow said one of them had died from heart problems - and that authorities in Baku had opened their own investigation.

Relations have been under strain since late last year, when 38 people were killed after an Azerbaijani airliner headed from Baku to southern Russia crashed. Baku says the crash was the result of accidental damage caused by fire from air defence units in Russia.

Nemat Avazov, the head of Bakus investigation into the accident, told reporters on Wednesday that his team would release its findings in the coming days.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Moscow had been cultivating its relationship with Baku for many years based on mutual respect and suggested unknown actors were now trying to