As Azerbaijan arrests Russians, is Putin losing control of his ‘backyard’?

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1. The scale of Moscow’s loss of standing in the post-Soviet region was highlighted this week when police in neighbouring Azerbaijan arrested the chief editor and the director of the Kremlin-funded Sputnik media agency in Baku, the capital. They were charged with fraud and money laundering. Unconfirmed media reports in Azerbaijan, an oil and gas-rich country that has close ties to Turkey, claimed the men were Russian FSB agents.

   Azerbaijani police also arrested more than a dozen Russian nationals on charges that included drug smuggling and cybercrimes. They were brought to court with swollen faces and clothes covered in blood. Some of the men are believed to have fled to Azerbaijan from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

   In response, Moscow cautioned its citizens against travelling to Azerbaijan and accused unnamed forces of seeking to foment a rift between the two countries. Such travel warnings have previously been reserved for “unfriendly” countries in the West.

   The row between the two former Soviet states erupted in December when Russia was accused by Baku of accidentally shooting down an Azerbaijani passenger plane that was attempting to land in Chechnya, killing 38 people. Putin offered his condolences but refused to acknowledge that Moscow was to blame

2. Russia failed to become a bridge between Europe and Asia because instead of building trust and strong partnerships it chose to focus on military power, interfering in the affairs of its neighbors, and constantly claiming that the world was against it. This made other countries wary and kept investors away. As a result Russia became isolated and heavily reliant on selling oil and gas instead of growing into a prosperous crossroads of trade, technology, and culture.

   It’s all their fault. 100%

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