Azerbaijan's president accuses Russia of 'deliberate attack' on country's embassy in Ukraine
Russia deliberately targeted Azerbaijan's energy infrastructure and embassy during attacks against Ukraine, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14.
The comments came on the same day Aliyev met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who addressed the conference and held talks with various leaders in Munich.
Aliyev's remarks also highlight the growing strain in Russia–Azerbaijan relations, despite recent efforts by Moscow and Baku to normalize ties.
"There were three attacks on the energy infrastructure of Azerbaijan in Ukraine, and there were also three attacks on the Azerbaijani embassy in Ukraine," Aliyev told the independent media outlet Ukrainska Pravda in Munich.
"After the first attack, we could assume that it was accidental, and we gave our Russian colleagues all the coordinates of the diplomatic missions of Azerbaijan, including the consular department, our cultural centers, and everything else. Despite this, two more attacks took place. So it was a deliberate attack on the diplomatic mission of Azerbaijan."
The reported strikes come amid Russia's all-out assault on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, an ongoing campaign that intensified in fall 2025 as temperatures began to plunge. In November, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to voice a "strong protest" after the Azerbaijani Embassy in Kyiv was damaged by an Iskander-type missile in a Russian aerial attack.
Previously, in August 2025, Azerbaijian's Embassy in Kyiv suffered damage due to a Russian strike. That same month, a Russian drone attack also damaged a diesel pipeline and injured four workers at an Azerbaijan State Oil Company (SOCAR) depot in Odesa Oblast. Another attack that summer targeted a gas distribution station near Orlivka, part of the Trans-Balkan pipeline that began carrying Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine in July.
Azerbaijan's honorary consulate in Kharkiv also suffered damage in March 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Azerbaijan has maintained a neutral stance in the Russia-Ukraine war, balancing its long-standing partnership with Moscow while offering humanitarian and energy assistance to Kyiv. Following Aliyev and Zelensky's meeting on Feb. 14, the Presidential Office said that Azerbaijan "is ready to deepen cooperation" with Ukraine.
"The leaders discussed the development of bilateral relations and the implementation of projects in the energy sector," the Presidential Office said. "Azerbaijan is interested in them and is ready to deepen cooperation. Volodymyr Zelensky and Ilham Aliyev agreed that the teams would work out all necessary issues."
Aliyev also told Ukrainska Pravda that Baku sees Moscow's recent strikes as hostile.
Russia's actions are "of course, regarded as an unfriendly step towards Azerbaijan," he said.
