Azerbaijan issue arrest warrants for 3 Russians over 'public calls to terrorism'
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The Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office announced arrest warrants in absentia for three Russian media figures on Aug. 17, accusing the suspects of issuing public calls for terrorism against the country.
The new absentia warrants come amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Baku. In 2024, relations between the two nations began to sour after Russia shot down an Azerbaijan Airlines flight over Kazakhstan in 2024, killing 38.
The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that it "will take decisive legal measures concerning any unlawful acts directed against the sovereignty, constitutional order and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan," in a press statement.
The Russian nationals in question are Ivan Knyazev, a presenter of the Moscow 24 television channel; Semyon Uralov, a "political consultant and media expert"; and Aleksey Chadayev, a TV journalist and who also serves as an adviser to Russia's Transport Minister, according to the statement.
The Prosecutor's Office alleges that in July the suspects called for citizens to pursue a "forcible change of the country’s constitutional order" in a YouTube broadcast. This, Azerbaijan says, violates the nation's territorial integrity and incited "national hatred and enmity."
The Prosecutor's Office also says that the suspects "made public calls for terrorism" against Azerbaijan in another broadcast in August.
As the Russian suspects are not in Azerbaijan, the country has requested international help in arresting the suspects.
Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, Azerbaijan has sought to increase ties with the West amid the changing political landscape of the Caucus region.
In August 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump helped negotiate a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, weakening Moscow's power in the region.
In early 2025, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev promised Ukraine $1 million in humanitarian aid. Aliyev then skipped a leaders summit in St. Petersburg in December 2025. Aliyev later accused Moscow of deliberately targeting Azerbaijan's energy infrastructure and embassy during attacks against Ukraine in February 2026.
In April 2026, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a cooperation deal with Aliyev during his first wartime visit to Azerbaijan.
