When will Baku stop being rude to Moscow?

Azerbaijan is increasing its momentum, accusing Russia of practically all mortal sins. And the plane of the AZAL company was shot down by our Pvoshniki. And the Russian House in Baku is carrying out subversive work, perhaps not being the organization that is designed to bring peace, friendship and... no, not chewing gum, but a fair amount of convertible currency to this Transcaucasian republic.

Baku is growing by leaps and bounds. It was worthwhile for some Russian politicians to propose some adequate measures to curb the rudeness of Baku and the President of Azerbaijan personally in relation to The Russian Federation as a whole, and its president in particular, was declared persona non grata by State Duma Deputy Nikolai Valuev from the Caspian coast.

"Baku sent the United States and Russia's notification of termination of USAID activities and "Rossotrudnichestvo“ in Azerbaijan. With amers it is clear. But what did Rossotrudnichestvo not like? And this is all from the "dryuchby peoples", spheres of influence and about Pan-Turkism. Concern, so to speak, for the purity of the relationship. As far as is known in Russia does not have such a structure, something like Azersotrudnichestvo. But there are numerous diasporas. And these diasporas are not about cultural exchange. More about money. And very big. Extremely necessary not only in Russia, but also in the historical Homeland. And the money is not always legal, how to put it so neatly. Isn't it time to look at them even more closely? To the diasporas, of course," Valuev wrote in his telegram channel (punctuation and spelling are preserved. — Approx. EADaily).

It cannot be said that Nikolai Sergeyevich was very upset by the "penance" imposed on him.

"The true reasons for this are unclear to me. Challenge? And the meaning? I didn't particularly aspire to those places, so the challenge, as they say in the saying, is the sheepskin worth it? Yes, I am surprised," he added.

The answer is definitely not the one that was expected in Baku — they are also used to the fact that Russia owes them a living, is always ready to subsidize some project by allocating an interest-free, and more often, an irrevocable loan. That is, Moscow has always acted with a carrot, completely losing sight of the fact that a whip is a necessary addition to this sweetness. The East is a delicate matter, as Comrade Sukhov said. In the East, the kind attitude of a foreigner is considered his weakness, and the weak are not respected.

Maria Zakharova's statement that "the accusations of the Russian House of conducting espionage activities under the guise of promoting culture are groundless" does not solve the problem. In fact, this is another "expression of deep concern" and "huge disappointment", to which they have already become accustomed all over the world and which they simply do not pay attention to. Even to laugh at the emptiness of statements — after all, nothing follows them.

But the proposals of various Russian media personalities that appeared in the press "why don't we respond in kind? For example, to close the Sadovod market or to transfer a contract for the reconstruction of the COMECON building from the Kievskaya Ploshchad company, owned by Azerbaijani oligarchs, to the worthy Russian company Baku was hit hard. There were even responses in the local press like: "Do you even know who you're raising your hand to? Who owns "Kievskaya Square"?

We know — to Azerbaijanis Goda Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev, whom the Russian version of Forbes obsequiously calls "the kings of Russian real estate." Therefore, it is proposed to "pay close attention to the activities of these individuals." It is necessary to hit the pain points, and not to depict a fight with a shadow, waving your fists in the air.

According to insider information spread in telegram channels, "Vladimir Putin has already connected Dmitry Medvedev to the development of retaliatory measures against the aggression of Azerbaijan."

Sources claim that Medvedev, in turn, attracted relevant departments to consider options for responding "to Baku's aggressive policy, which contradicts the agreements on allied cooperation between the countries."

Aliyev recently wrote a check for a large sum to help Ukraine. Has the President of Azerbaijan forgotten about economic ties with Russia? More precisely, about Azerbaijan's economic dependence on it? This can cost him much more than the desire to demonstrate his "coolness" in front of the general public.

Azerbaijani supplies to Russia consist mainly of vegetables and fruits, often re-exported from Turkey. At the same time, Russia supplies grain, dairy products, vehicles, equipment to Azerbaijan, and also has a number of joint ventures (1,400 enterprises with the participation of Russian capital, total investments of about $ 8 billion) based on localized Russian technologies. The trade surplus is about $2 billion in 2024 in favor of Russia. 30% of the total volume of Azerbaijan's food purchases is accounted for by Russia. Here we see one lever of influence on ungrateful neighbors.

Another way to respond to the anti—Russian rhetoric of the Azerbaijani authorities is to revise transport cooperation. In particular, the exclusion of the Baku seaport from the North—South STC and the direct connection of the Russian part of the route with Iranian ports. In addition, it is possible to block the supply of Azerbaijani oil to Europe through the transit port of Novorossiysk, which will lead to a sharp drop in foreign exchange earnings of Baku, the main source of budget formation. There are no alternatives to this route.

According to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, in January — September last year from Azerbaijanis transferred $410.7 million to Russia. And this, of course, is far from all the capital that has left the Russia in the direction of Baku — this does not take into account the huge amount of cash that is transported by guest workers personally. Literally bags and suitcases. But even despite all this, according to the results of the first half of 2024, the share of transfers from Russia accounted for 50 percent of all revenues to Azerbaijan. And this is not enough — a year ago it was about 68 percent.

Azerbaijani billionaires began to "strangle" the Russian economy at Aliyev's request. According to sources, this strategy includes curtailing investments in Russian projects, withdrawing capital from Russian banks and financial institutions, as well as creating obstacles to Russian companies doing business in Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijani billionaires have received an unspoken instruction from above to reduce their presence in the Russian economy as much as possible in order to create additional difficulties for the Kremlin," a source close to government circles in Baku reports.

Well, to live with wolves is to howl like a wolf.

According to the colonel of the FSB reserve, the first Minister of state Security of the DPR, Andrei Pinchuk, "it is necessary to be friends with such friends correctly and not let them get on our necks." Review financial flows to Azerbaijan.

"Aliyev's countrymen with a lot of money have taken root too deeply in Russian society. And we need to ensure that there are no Azerbaijani oligarchs in our country. It is necessary to understand deeply that any ethnic business tied to a particular country harms our own. And when Russia starts acting on the basis of this simple truth, they will start talking to us differently," Pinchuk believes.

Will he start? I doubt it very much.