By Apps Support Mansur Mirovalev
In 2001, a man was stabbed to death near a lakeside restaurant in Yekaterinburg, an urban centre in Russia鈥檚 Ural Mountains region.
With his dying breath, he whispered the names of his alleged killers to the police, local media claimed.
The man and his presumed murderers were ethnic Azeris, Turkic-speaking Muslims whose families fled to Russia in the 1990s after the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azeri region dominated by ethnic Armenians.
But it took Russian authorities 24 years to identify and detain the presumed suspects 鈥 even though they ran the restaurant and never went into hiding.
Two alleged suspects died while being rounded up on Friday. One suffered a 鈥渉eart attack鈥 while the other suspect鈥檚 cause of death 鈥渋s being established鈥, according to Russian prosecutors.
They also purported that the suspects were part of 鈥渁 criminal group鈥 allegedly involved in other murders and the sale of counterfeit alcohol that killed 44 people in 2021.
The prosecutors provided no answers as to why the presumed 鈥渃riminals鈥 were at large for so long 鈥 and did not elaborate on the apparently brutal manner in which they were detained.
The deaths triggered a diplomatic storm that may contribute to a tectonic shift in the strategic South Caucasus region, Russia鈥檚 former stamping ground, where Azerbaijan won Nagorno-Karabakh back in 2020, and Turkiye is regaining its centuries-old clout.
Azerbaijan slams Russia鈥檚 鈥榰nacceptable violence鈥
The spat has so far resulted in the arrest of two Russian intelligence officers in Azerbaijan, the shutdown of a Kremlin-funded media outlet there, and the cancellation of 鈥渃ultural events鈥 sponsored by Moscow.
Russian police and intelligence officers used 鈥渦nacceptable violence鈥 that killed two brothers, Ziyaddin Safarov and Gusein Safarov, and left their relatives severely injured, Azerbaijan鈥檚 Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.
One of the injured men reportedly said masked officers began breaking his front door at dawn, frightening his children.
The officers 鈥渢urned the house upside down and kept beating us for an hour without asking anything鈥, Mohammed Safarov told the MediaAzNews website.
He said his elderly father was also beaten and electrocuted for hours and claimed they were both requested to 鈥渧olunteer鈥 to fight Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine.
Other Azeri media outlets published photos of bruises and wounds the men claimed were caused by Russian officers.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, in response to a question about Azerbaijan鈥檚 reactions, 鈥淲e sincerely regret such decisions鈥.
He added, 鈥淲e believe that everything that鈥檚 happening (in Yekaterinburg) is related to the work of law enforcement agencies, and this cannot and should not be a reason for such a reaction.鈥
But Emil Mustafayev, a political analyst based in Azerbaijan鈥檚 capital, Baku, said the incident highlighted a xenophobic strain in Russia.
鈥淭he killing of Azeris is a link in the chain of tendentious politics where ethnic minorities are used as a lightning rod,鈥 he said. 鈥淭his is not just a tragedy, this is a symptom of a deep sickness of the Russian society.鈥
The Azeri diaspora in Russia is at least two million strong, but they face discrimination, police brutality and hate attacks.
鈥淭he Kremlin has long ago mastered a trick 鈥 when domestic dissent is on the rise, there is a need to switch attention to 鈥榯he enemies from within鈥, be that Ukrainians, Tajiks, Uzbeks or, like now, Azeris,鈥 Mustafayev added.
The Kremlin uses state propaganda, police brutality and the taciturn approval of top officials to create an atmosphere of violence against migrants that is 鈥渟een as normal, as inevitable鈥, he said.
Back in the 1990s, Azeri migrants nearly monopolised fruit trade and mini-bus transportation in Russian urban centres.
Many still run countless shops selling vegetables and flowers.
鈥淲e are the boogeymen, cops always need to check our documents and need no excuse to harass us and call us names even after they see my Russian passport,鈥 an ethnic Azeri owner of a flower shop near a major railway station in Moscow told Al Jazeera, on condition of anonymity.
Until the early 2000s, the Azeris 鈥渦ndoubtedly were the number one鈥 most-hated ethnic minority in Russia, until the arrival of labour migrants from Russia鈥檚 North Caucasus and ex-Soviet Central Asia, said Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany鈥檚 Bremen University.
Since then, some ultra-nationalists and skinheads who considered Azeris their main enemies joined law enforcement agencies, he added.
鈥淪o, the cruelty in Yekaterinburg may have been caused by鈥 the decades-old hatred, Mitrokhin told Al Jazeera.
Strained ties
Other geopolitical factors contributed to anti-Azeri sentiments in Russia.
In 2020, Azerbaijan put an end to the seemingly unsolvable political deadlock over Nagorno-Karabakh.
鈥淭he success undoubtedly became possible thanks to Turkiye鈥檚 military aid,鈥 Alisher Ilkhamov, head of Central Asia Due Diligence, a think tank in London, told Al Jazeera.
Baku bought advanced Turkish-made Bayraktar drones that could easily strike large groups of Armenian and separatist soldiers, together with their trenches, tanks and trucks.
An Azeri-Turkish alliance emerged, 鈥渁llowing Baku to get rid of Moscow鈥檚 obtrusive 鈥榩eacekeeping鈥 mission and depriving it of a chance to manipulate the Azeri-Armenian conflict to keep both [Azerbaijan and Armenia] in its political orbit鈥, he said.
The alliance tarnished Moscow鈥檚 clout in South Caucasus, while Baku sympathised with Kyiv in the Russian-Ukrainian war, he said.
Azerbaijan鈥檚 President Ilham Aliyev also accused Russia of obstructing an investigation into the downing of an Azeri passenger plane over Chechnya last December.
The plane was apparently hit by panicking Russian air defence forces during a Ukrainian drone attack on Grozny, Chechnya鈥檚 administrative capital.
Aliyev also refused to take part in the May 9 parade on Moscow鈥檚 iconic Red Square to commemorate Russia鈥檚 role in defeating Nazi Germany in 1945.
Baku fiercely resists the Kremlin鈥檚 campaign to forcibly enlist Azeri labour migrants to join Russia鈥檚 war effort in Ukraine.
Ilkhamov said the violent sting in Yekaterinburg became part of the Kremlin鈥檚 efforts to 鈥渇righten the Azeri community in Russia鈥.