The Russian ambassador was summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry due to threats in Russian media.
The Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mikhail Evdokimov, was summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry due to statements and threats made in the Russian media against the country and its leadership. Baku expressed a strong protest to the Russian side and demanded immediate measures to stop the provocative rhetoric and calls for violence.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan has opened a criminal case against Russian media experts Ivan Knyazev, Alexey Chadaev, and Semyon Uralov, accusing them of public calls for violent change of the constitutional order and violation of the territorial integrity of the country, terrorism, and incitement of national hatred. All three have been declared wanted and arrested in absentia.
The case is related to two episodes of the program "Purity of Understanding", published on Semyon Uralov's YouTube channel on July 14 and August 13, 2026. In the July program, "the participants discussed the use of violence against Azerbaijan", and in the August episode, in particular, they spoke about "holding people under the threat of physical destruction and their targeted elimination", explained the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan. The podcast "Purity of Understanding" is an authorial project of technologist Alexey Chadaev and media technologist and writer Semyon Uralov, with journalist Ivan Knyazev moderating the discussion. The videos of the program have been published since October 2024 on the YouTube channel.
The Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mikhail Evdokimov, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry of the republic on August 18, where the serious concern and strong protest of Baku were conveyed to the Russian side "in connection with the provocative, offensive statements and threats recently made in the media and information space of Russia against Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani people, and the leadership of the state", said the statement from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the translation of which was provided by a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
In particular, the ministry pointed out that attention was drawn to the statements made on August 13 in a program aired as part of the "Purity of Understanding" project on Semyon Uralov's YouTube channel.
The broadcast from July 14, 2026, in the "Purity of Understanding" project was dedicated to the statements of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, at the Shusha Media Forum – in particular, his words about supporting the sovereignty of Ukraine and criticizing the colonial past. The participants of the program discussed possible scenarios for destabilization and territorial division of Azerbaijan. In the episode from August 13, the rhetoric of the participants, according to the Azerbaijani prosecutor's office, contained calls for violence against representatives of the Azerbaijani leadership.
"Alongside this, absurd statements made on August 7 in a program by the Sputnik radio station regarding the alleged inclusion of the Azerbaijani leadership in the Russian 'list of terrorists and extremists', as well as the repeated dissemination of offensive materials and provocative statements against the Azerbaijani leadership – on August 9 on YouTube and on August 16 on the 'Spas' TV channel," noted the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
The Foreign Ministry emphasized that "discussing the possibilities of interfering in the internal political processes of the Azerbaijani state, as well as calls for the use of physical violence against the Azerbaijani people and leadership, is absolutely unacceptable".
The ambassador was also informed that, despite repeated calls from the Azerbaijani side to stop such activities and discussions on various political levels, the continuation of similar rhetoric in an increasingly harsh form raises serious concern in Baku.
During the meeting, the expectation of Baku was again conveyed to the Russian side "regarding the adoption of urgent and effective measures to stop the provocative rhetoric, threats, and calls for violence against Azerbaijan in the information and media space of Russia".
The initiation of criminal proceedings against Russian propagandists and the summoning of the Russian ambassador with a protest shows that Azerbaijan will respond harshly to any aggressive informational attacks against the country and its leadership, noted political analyst Tofiq Turkely.
"The new attacks on Baku are mainly related to the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine, or rather are a painful reaction to this. Therefore, Azerbaijan simultaneously makes it clear that it will not allow third parties to exert pressure on the country due to its independent foreign policy," he told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
It is worth noting that on August 18, it became known that the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Moscow, Bakhtiyar Gasanov, was deported from Russia to Azerbaijan. Earlier, Gasanov attempted to appeal the decision on his expulsion, but the court rejected the appeal.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in December 2022, the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan opened a criminal case against former leading expert of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of Russia, Doctor of Law Mikhail Alexandrov for calls to unleash an aggressive war, threats of terrorist acts, and incitement of national hatred. The basis for the case was an interview in which Alexandrov called to "shell and completely destroy the entire oil industry and energy system of Azerbaijan". After these words, he was dismissed from MGIMO.