Social media users discussed Aliyev's right to disagree with Moscow on the Ukrainian issue.

Azerbaijan is an independent state and respects the territorial integrity of other countries. The head of state has the right to an opinion different from the position of the Kremlin, social media users pointed out while commenting on Aliyev's stance on the Ukrainian issue. Others considered such a position to be hypocrisy against the backdrop of statements about normalizing relations with Russia.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", Azerbaijan's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity is a subject of disagreement between Moscow and Baku, but it should not affect Russian-Azerbaijani relations, said Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called the crisis in relations with the Russian Federation resolved, but mocked some of Moscow's actions, particularly the designation of political scientist Sergey Markov as a foreign agent and the dismissal of Mikhail Gusman from the position of first deputy general director of TASS after their participation in the previous Shusha Global Media Forum. Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are emerging from a period of crisis, but their new model will be built on different terms. Baku demonstrates greater independence in foreign policy, while Moscow is interested in maintaining cooperation with Azerbaijan as an important regional partner, Azerbaijani analysts noted.

Commentators assessed Aliyev's right to diverge from the Kremlin's positions

Two posts on the "Caucasian Knot" Facebook page about the statements of Aliyev and Peskov were commented on by more than 350 people.

The discussion around the Kremlin's statement and Azerbaijan's position focused on the themes of territorial integrity, relations between Moscow and Baku, as well as assessments of events in Ukraine and the South Caucasus. In the comments, users debated the role of historical experience, the foreign policies of states, and the consequences of military conflicts.

Some participants in the discussion supported the idea that the principle of preserving borders should apply to all states.

"Support for the territorial integrity of any sovereign state is an inviolable truth, including in relation to Russia. If someone wants to seize territories from Russia by military means, that would also be wrong," noted Irakli Tugushi.

"The integrity of Karabakh within Azerbaijan," wrote Vlad Gavlovich.

"Azerbaijan has always been for peace and prosperity for all. And for the territorial integrity of all states, including Ukraine," stated Valeh Kərimov.

Some commentators perceived Baku's statement as a voiced independent foreign policy position.

"The Kremlin may consider Baku's position 'wrong', but for Azerbaijan, the principle remains unchanged: the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states are inviolable," wrote Sabukhi Pashaev.

"Bravo, my president, we are proud of you," commented Mamedov Ilham.

"If we are against war, it means that Azerbaijan has experienced it firsthand, when Armenia also said that Karabakh is Armenia," noted Elshad Aliyev.

Every self-respecting person has the right to their own opinion, especially the head of state

"Aliyev has been on Ukraine's side from the very beginning, this is not news... he said this before," noted Nailya Musayeva.

"Every self-respecting person has the right to their own opinion, especially the head of state," believes Maia Zhvania.

"Aliyev showed everyone their place. Bravo, our favorite," stated Mehman Sarkarov.

The policies of Moscow and Baku sparked a discussion

Some users accused the parties of inconsistency.

"Aliyev's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity is true hypocrisy," believes Karine Rosa.

"Which years' integrity are we talking about?" asked Mikhail Nikitin.

Some participants in the discussion found Peskov's statements unfounded.

"The Kremlin can only reproach its vassals," noted Guseyn Samedzade.

"Russia can do nothing against Azerbaijan, this is not Armenia," stated Simon Kazaryan.

"Russia will never give up its colonies," stated Jalal Rahimov.

"Moscow is no longer the priority master," noted Medet Safarli.

"Normalization of relations is a diplomatic bluff," wrote Medet Safarli.

Some users pointed out the economic and political aspects of relations

Some users linked political statements to economic interests. For instance, user Anatoly Alov believes that Azerbaijan, purchasing Russian oil, then "sells it to the West through its pipelines.

"Moscow does not like that Baku has become a competitor in oil and gas sales," noted Medet Safarli.

Moscow is no longer the priority master

In the comments, users discussed how broad the support for different positions is.

"According to the Kremlin, the correct position is held by countries like Iran, Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Eritrea, while all other UN member states hold the wrong position," wrote Gadzhi Mamedov.

"It is a disagreement between Moscow and the whole world," noted Gülya Shafi.

Aliyev pointed to the changed realities in the South Caucasus

Recall that at the fourth Global Media Forum in Shusha, Ilham Aliyev spoke about the normalization of relations with Russia.

"I would like to say once again that we value our relations with Russia. <...> You noted the difficulties, we all know about them. But it is important that this process is now behind us, and I would say that relations are fully normalized. Contacts are being made at different levels," Aliyev said in response to a journalist's question. "So in this regard, everything is going well, and we are glad about it," said the President of Azerbaijan.

The South Caucasus has changed, and fundamentally

He noted that relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are important for both bilateral formats and for a "broader geography." "They encompass both traditional areas of interaction and new ones that may arise. Here, of course, the transport component plays a very important role, trade, humanitarian cooperation," follows from the transcript of Aliyev's speech at the Shusha Forum, published on the YouTube channel Baku TV.

Aliyev, assessing Russia's role in the South Caucasus, pointed out that "the South Caucasus has changed, and fundamentally." "And in this case, perhaps, one can say that the impetus for this was the Second Karabakh War, which shifted many layers that were considered already established and petrified. Well, the further events in the South Caucasus, related to the full restoration of Azerbaijan's sovereignty, associated with Armenia's Euro-aspirations and everything related to this process, in my opinion, dictate the need to rethink communication and analysis by the actors in this region as a whole. And without contacts, without kind of feeling the pulse, it will be very difficult to do this, because the old methodologies of perception of the South Caucasus are completely outdated. That is, this is a completely different region than it was 5 years ago, with new centers, with again divergent aspirations," Aliyev pointed out.

We also know our worth

He called building relationships with the South Caucasus a complex task "for any foreign player." "The region is not consolidated, it is not integrated politically, economically, or transport-wise. We are in such an initial period, so building and the same messages I conveyed to my European colleagues when we saw such a clear bias towards Armenia from the Western community, and it raised questions for us, because we know both geography and economic potential. And we also know our worth," emphasized Aliyev.

According to him, the bias in favor of Armenia in relations on the European stage "was, of course, inspired by political actions." "Everyone needs to move away from this and not view the South Caucasus as an arena of geopolitical struggle. At least in Azerbaijan, we have achieved this," he added.

According to Aliyev, those interested in this region, interested in having peace and cooperation in the region, need to build individual cooperation formats with all countries of the South Caucasus. Then, when the normalization processes with Armenia are completed, when direct transport links between Azerbaijan and Armenia will begin, not as they are now, but directly through the Zangezur corridor or through other corridors. And when politically the South Caucasus is ready to create some trilateral format, then the situation will be different. For now, it is not," believes Aliyev.

He emphasized that the most important thing is that everyone who wants to cooperate should first proceed from the fact that this should be a region of peace, interaction, and completely free from geopolitical competition, indicating that the affairs of the region should primarily be handled by the countries of the region.

The question to Aliyev, to which such a detailed answer was given, was asked by Alexey Naumov, as follows from the video.

He worked as a correspondent for the "Independent Newspaper," in 2018 became the head of the "World" department at the online publication "Lenta.ru." In 2019, he moved to "Kommersant," where he took the position of deputy head of the foreign policy department of the ID "Kommersant," writes "Business Online."

In his Telegram channel, which has 21.5 thousand subscribers, Naumov presents himself as "an internationalist, Americanist. Ex-‘Kommersant’".

Naumov's report on the media forum in Shusha this year was released on the RuTube channel "Caucasian Herald" in the section "Analysis," which he leads.

Aliyev's statement about the normalization of relations and support for Ukraine's territorial integrity came against the backdrop of the recent summoning of the Russian ambassador in Azerbaijan to the country's Foreign Ministry, where he was handed a note of protest regarding the drone attack on July 5 on the SOCAR gas station in the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine. It was also recently reported that 11 Azerbaijani citizens were on board the civilian cargo ship Atlas Bey, which was attacked by a drone off the coast of Odessa on July 14. Ten of them were evacuated, the captain died.

What the media forum in Shusha turned out for Russian participants in 2025

The third Global Media Forum in Shusha took place from July 19 to 21, 2025. Then, on the first day of the forum, against the backdrop of the crisis in relations between the two countries after the crash of the AZAL plane, the harsh detentions of members of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Urals, and the arrest of Russians in Baku, Ilham Aliyev stated

Pro-Kremlin political scientist Sergey Markov* spoke complimentarily about Ilham Aliyev at the media forum in Shusha, calling him a "brilliant intellectual" in front of Azerbaijani journalists. Markov's words were reacted to by Z-bloggers, calling for him to be declared a foreign agent for "despicable collaborationism." The deputy general director of the TASS agency, Mikhail Gusman, who also attended the media forum, was also criticized by Z-bloggers. On July 24, Gusman was relieved of his duties by the decree of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. TASS dedicated a short publication to this event, noting that Gusman had worked in TASS structures for almost 30 years.

On August 22, 2025, Sergey Markov* was included in the register of foreign agents, and his name was removed from the website of "United Russia".

It should be noted that in 2025, the media forum in Karabakh took place from July 19 to 25, during which TASS dedicated only one publication to it. In the publication from July 19, the words of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev were quoted, stating that Baku and Yerevan are very close to signing a peace treaty, Aliyev noted. "According to him, Baku continues to insist on fulfilling its two conditions. "The peace treaty can be signed immediately after resolving two issues: amending the Constitution of Armenia and dissolving the Minsk Group of the OSCE," emphasized the head of state," the publication states.

On July 20, on the second day of the media forum, there were no publications on the TASS website, and on July 21, 14 publications about Azerbaijan were released, but none of them concerned this event.

In particular, the agency published three articles about the statements of Russian President Dmitry Peskov's press secretary regarding the Azerbaijani issue. He then, against the backdrop of security forces' operations in both countries, stated that law-abiding Azerbaijanis are respected in Russia, and Moscow considers it very important that Russians are respected in Azerbaijan. He added that Azerbaijan has the right to sue regarding the plane crash in Kazakhstan and characterized the relations between the two countries as having entered a difficult period.

"Sometimes it happens that there are difficult periods in the relations between two countries. Now is one of those periods. We hope that this period will pass," the agency quoted his words.

* included in the Russian register of foreign agents.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.