By Azerbaijan.US Editorial Board
BAKU – September 5, 2025
Russia has finally run out of credit in Azerbaijan. The downing of an AZAL passenger plane was the moment of rupture. What followed sealed the break: instead of responsibility, Moscow offered spin. Insurance payouts were dressed up as “compensation,” as if a technical contract could replace political accountability. Baku called it what it is – deception.
This is not just about money. It is about sovereignty. Insurance covers accidents. Compensation admits guilt. By blurring the line, Russia insults the victims’ families and mocks Azerbaijan’s demand for justice. Worse, it proves what many here already suspected: Moscow will never treat Azerbaijan as an equal.
The SCO summit in Beijing made that clearer still. China wanted to open the door; Russia quietly locked it. By colluding with India to block Baku’s membership, Moscow undermined Beijing’s “Shanghai spirit” and revealed its own insecurity. A confident power would welcome Azerbaijan’s rise as a bridge in Eurasia. A fearful one tries to stifle it.
Russia’s behavior fits a pattern. It still sees its neighbors as appendages, not partners. Apologies are weakness, concessions are betrayal, and accountability is unthinkable. But that mindset is backfiring. Among ordinary Azerbaijanis, patience with Moscow has evaporated. Every denial now reads as contempt. Every delay looks like sabotage.
The irony is that Azerbaijan does not need Russia. With China, Turkey, and Europe all vying for deeper ties, Baku’s future lies in connectivity, not dependency. The Middle Corridor is growing. Energy links to Europe are expanding. Even the U.S., long a hesitant player, now sees Azerbaijan as indispensable. Russia is the odd man out — a country that mistakes obstruction for strategy.
Geography once guaranteed Moscow influence. That era is over. Agency matters more than maps, and Azerbaijan has it. By refusing to admit its crime, by blocking Baku’s diplomacy, by harassing its diaspora, Russia has lost not just leverage but trust.
And trust, once broken, is gone for good.
This editorial represents the views of the Azerbaijan.US Editorial Board.
