Open hate speech against Azerbaijan, calls to undermine its sovereignty, and hybrid threats have once again intensified across Russian media resources and social platforms. In fact, there has never been a time when this process completely stopped. The latest such provocation occurred on the “Chistota Ponimaniya” (“Clarity of Understanding”) program broadcast on YouTube, featuring Moscow 24 TV presenter Ivan Knyazev, political commentator Semyon Uralov, and Aleksey Chadayev, adviser to the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation.
The statements made by these individuals have gone beyond the bounds of freedom of speech or individual expert opinion and turned into acts of a criminal nature that grossly violate the norms of international law and the principles of interstate relations.
Calls for terrorism and physical elimination
The program openly promoted the use of violent methods against the sovereignty, constitutional order and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the targeted physical elimination of specific individuals, and the carrying out of acts of a terrorist nature.
The program aired on July 14, 2026, discussed statements made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the Shusha Media Forum regarding support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the fight against colonialism. The Russian experts crossed all boundaries by discussing “scenarios for the destruction of Azerbaijani statehood.” Yes, you read that correctly: these “Russian experts,” displaying the ultimate degree of brazenness, hurled outrageous remarks against the Azerbaijani state.
Aleksey Chadayev once again raised scenarios involving the partition of Azerbaijan, Russia’s annexation of Azerbaijan, the transfer of Azerbaijani territory to Iran, and the incitement of separatism through the “Talysh” and “Lezgin” factors. He called on official Moscow to strengthen the Caspian Flotilla and its military forces in southern Dagestan, plan an airborne operation in Baku, and directly intervene militarily in Azerbaijan. Yet, despite such an outrageous tirade that crossed every boundary, there was no intervention or reaction from Russia’s official bodies.
Knyazev went even further, saying that official Moscow should have a specific objective regarding Azerbaijan. The journalist from Moskva 24, which is part of Russia’s state broadcaster VGTRK, threatened Azerbaijan with a Ukraine-style scenario.
In the same program, Uralov behaved even more disgracefully. He called on the Russian special services to force the Azerbaijani diaspora, under the threat of losing their rights, to join a coordinated démarche against Baku. He proposed urging Azerbaijani organizations in Russia’s regions to issue open, radical statements condemning official Baku’s policies.
In the program aired on August 13, 2026, the anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric of the aforementioned individuals became even more aggressive and rabid. For this gang of loudmouths, the USSR and its rules are apparently still in force. Just as a hungry chicken dreams of millet, Russian experts still go to bed and wake up with claims about the USSR. These dregs seem to believe that everyone born before 1991 is a citizen of the Soviet Union. Guys, one of the few successes of Russia’s healthcare system was the abundance of psychiatric hospitals, because there was a great need for such hospitals during the Soviet era. If there are still doctors left in those hospitals who have not been drawn into the war with Ukraine, go and get yourselves checked by them.
The anti-Azerbaijani views of the Knyazev-Uralov-Chadayev “trio” can be found not only in the above-mentioned programs, but also in the episode aired on October 16, 2025. In that program, Mika Badalyan, a “propagandist” known by the nickname “Bulldog,” whom official Moscow had prepared to “work” with Armenian society, appeared as a guest, and together with the Knyazev-Uralov-Chadayev “trio,” made numerous statements against Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and statehood.
Officials also join journalist-expert provocations
The fact that not only media representatives (Knyazev, Uralov), but also Aleksey Chadayev, who holds an official position in a Russian state institution — the Ministry of Transport — is involved in the anti-Azerbaijani provocation adds to the seriousness of the matter. He is not merely a journalist or political commentator; since January 2026, he has served as an adviser to Russian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin. Prior to that, he served as an adviser to Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the Russian State Duma. The fact that Chadayev holds an official position adds additional political sensitivity to the situation, given his statements in the program about the physical elimination of political elites and other threats against a neighboring independent state. Rather than an individual subjective approach, this indicates an attempt by certain circles in Russia to carry out a targeted information attack against Azerbaijan.
The use of manipulative theses in the statements aimed at inciting national hatred and hostility and destabilizing the region shows that Russia has still not abandoned its “old games” and traditional, outdated scenarios.
As a result of investigations conducted by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan, elements of a crime were identified in the actions of Ivan Knyazev, Semyon Uralov and Aleksey Chadayev. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against them under the articles of the Criminal Code on “Public calls for terrorism,” “Public calls directed against the state (when committed repeatedly or by a group of persons),” and “Incitement of national, racial, social or religious hatred and hostility through the use or threat of violence.” By a court decision, a preventive measure of arrest in absentia has been imposed on all three individuals, and they have been placed on the international wanted list through Interpol’s National Central Bureau.
This step by official Baku once again demonstrates that any information terror and hybrid threat directed against the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and the security of its citizens will not go unanswered. Individuals who promote terrorism and anti-state violence under the guise of media freedom must be held accountable under international law, regardless of their position or the country in which they reside.
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