Russia deports head of Moscow's Azerbaijani diaspora as Baku seeks arrest of three Russians

Azerbaijan's APA news agency has reported that Bakhtiyar Hasanov, head of the Azerbaijani diaspora organization in Moscow, was deported from Russia. Russian authorities stripped him of his Russian citizenship in 2025 and detained him in June 2026, placing him in a temporary detention center for migrants.

On August 17, Azerbaijan placed three Russian citizens on a wanted list and issued arrest warrants against them in absentia: Alexei Chadayev, an adviser to Russia's transport minister; Ivan Knyazev, a host on the Moscow 24 TV channel; and Semyon Uralov, a political consultant. They are accused of inciting hatred and publicly calling for terrorism over comments they made about Azerbaijan on a YouTube show.

Background of the standoff

Russian and Azerbaijani authorities have been targeting each other's citizens since the summer of 2025, when members of Azerbaijani diaspora communities across Russia were rounded up in mass raids. In response, Azerbaijan arrested several employees of Russian propaganda outlets as well as 11 Russians detained at random, including tourists and people who had relocated to Azerbaijan. The media workers were released several months later, while the others were sentenced to prison terms.