Russian media has accused Azerbaijan of producing 122mm and 152mm calibre artillery shells for Ukraine, highlighting the continuation of deterioration of fragile Baku-Moscow ties.
According to reports that originated from a pro-war Russian Joker DNR Telegram channel's post on July 29, Azerbaijan, jointly with Turkey, is producing shells for Ukraine’s Soviet-style artillery in a factory established in Azerbaijan. Joker DNR channel that has over 200,000 followers, cited an unnamed source within Ukraine’s Security Service, SBU, to back its claims. The channel further claimed that negotiations were underway with a Bulgarian company as well to produce NATO standard shells for Ukraine. There have been no official reports from Russia, Ukraine or Azerbaijan regarding the alleged production of shells for Ukraine in Baku.
Separately, a video circulated on TikTok claimed that Baku was sending troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia and that Baku would provide free fuel to the Ukrainian army. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in April last year that his country would not send weapons to Ukraine despite many request to supply Kyiv with military aid. Baku claims sending only humanitarian aid to the tune of around 35 million USD to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-fledged invasion in February 2022.
Earlier, this month, pro-Russian media outlets claimed that Azerbaijan had assisted Ukraine’s Security Service to carry out Spiderweb drone attacks deep into Russia that resulted in the destruction of 40 strategic bombers at four air based deep in the country on June 1. According to these reports, Azerbaijani special services, using Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia, provided the SBU with logistical support. Following these allegations, Russian special forces started raids against members of Azerbaijani diaspora, which they believe were functioning as an “intelligence outpost” collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence.
It should be noted that Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet Aze.media quoted an unnamed government official saying in March 2024 that a hybrid war was being waged against Baku. ‘There is an attempt to ruin our relations with Moscow, and we know well who is behind these attempts’, the source said, accusing Armenia of being the origin of the allegations.
The deterioration of Baku-Moscow relations started with the downing of Azerbaijani Airlines’ passenger plane by a Russian air defene system over Chechnya in December and culminated with the killing of two Azerbaijani nationals during a police raid in Yekaterinburg in July. Azerbaijan responded by detaining staff members of Russia’s pro-government Sputnik news agency in Baku. Aliyev announced this month that Azerbaijan would take Russia to an international court over the downing of its passenger plane.
