19:56, 2 August 2025

Sources reported the detention of Shahin Shykhlinski

Shahin Shykhlinski. Screenshot of photo readovka from 17.07.25, https://t.me/readovkanews/98798

The head of the Azerbaijan-Ural organization, Shahin Shykhlinski, has been detained and taken to Yekaterinburg, sources reported. Before his detention, he asked Ilham Aliyev for help and indicated that he was in a guest house at the Azerbaijani embassy in Moscow.

As the Caucasian Knot reported, the head of the Azerbaijan-Ural organization, Shahin Shykhlinski (also referred to in the media as Shikhlinsky and Shykhlinsky, - note from the "Caucasian Knot") was detained by security forces in Yekaterinburg on the evening of July 1. According to his son, he was taken for questioning to the Investigative Committee as a witness. At night, the security forces released the detainee, having questioned him in the Safarov case. On July 16, the court arrested Shahin Shykhlinski's son on charges of violence against a security officer: on the day of Shykhlinski Sr.'s arrest, his son Mutvali Shykhlinski was driving a Gelenvagen and hit one of the special forces soldiers. Mutvali himself denies the charges, and the appellate court left him in custody. Shahin Shykhlinski was put on the wanted list.

On June 28, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called on the Russian authorities to investigate the deaths and injuries of Azerbaijanis who suffered on June 27 as a result of a special operation by security forces in Yekaterinburg. Experts in Baku called blunt force trauma the cause of death of the brothers Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov, while the Russian side called the cause of death a heart attack.

Security forces detained the leader of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Urals, Shahin Shykhlinski, URA.ru reported with reference to an informed source.

"Shykhlinski was indeed taken to Yekaterinburg. Investigative actions are currently being carried out with him," his words are quoted in the publication.

Shykhlinski was detained near the Azerbaijani embassy in Moscow, RusNews reports.

Earlier, Shykhlinski addressed the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the publication Zerkalo.Az reported. In his address, Shykhlinski indicated that he "never lost touch with his homeland - Azerbaijan", on his initiative, enterprises and catering facilities were opened in the cities of Baku, as well as in the Gazakh and Gakh regions, which continue to operate. He also "never renounced his Azerbaijani citizenship and is currently a citizen of both Azerbaijan and Russia."

According to him, it was he and his son who suffered in the incident with security forces near "Baku Plaza" in the city of Yekaterinburg. "Employees of the Federal Security Service of Russia suddenly attacked the car in which I and my son, Mutvala Shykhlinski, were traveling. My son was driving the car. We were subjected to rude and inhuman treatment, forcibly pulled out of the car, thrown to the ground, subjected to psychological and physical pressure, and insulting language was used. <...> The employees told us that the reason for such treatment was the recent political tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia. All this is a clear example of biased and politically motivated treatment of us. I would like to note that both my son and I have the status of a lawyer and have never committed any illegal actions. After the incident, due to the serious threat to the safety of me and my family, I was forced to seek refuge in the guest house of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow," the statement reads.

He asked the President of Azerbaijan "to take control of the case related to the unfounded and illegal criminal prosecution of him and his son" and ensure support of the relevant state structures of Azerbaijan," the publication dated August 1 said.

Relations between Moscow and Baku have noticeably worsened after the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024, while flying from Baku to Grozny. More details can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "Baku-Grozny Air Crash" and in the article "Geopolitical Confrontation: What Did the Crash of the AZAL Plane Lead to".

A new round of deterioration in relations between the two countries was the ethnic raids in Russia and the retaliatory detentions of Russians in Azerbaijan. Baku accuses the Russian authorities of extrajudicial reprisals against Azerbaijanis, and footage from the harsh detention of Russians in Baku looks like a demonstrative response to Moscow's actions, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Crisis in Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia".

On June 30, Azerbaijani security forces conducted a search in the office of the Russian agency "Sputnik Azerbaijan" and detained two people, calling them agents of the Russian special services, they werearrested. Also on July 1, the courtarrested eight Russian citizens detained on charges of drug transit and cybercrime.

Security officials in various Russian regions have complaints about ethnic Azerbaijanis, including those with Russian citizenship. At the same time, Russians and tourists living in Azerbaijan complained about the security forces' visits and demands report to the migration services. On July 4, it became known that Russian authorities deprived the head of the regional national-cultural autonomy of Azerbaijanis of the Moscow region Elshan Ibragimov of Russian citizenship. This decision was not a consequence of the events in the Urals and the diplomatic crisis that arose between Baku and Moscow, Ibragimov's lawyer said. On July 9, Ibragimov left Russia.

Materials about the deterioration of relations between the two states have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "The Collapse of Ties between Baku and Moscow".

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/413517