The head of the Azerbaijani community in the Urals, who replaced Shykhlinsky, has been arrested.

The court arrested Vidadi Mustafayev, head of the Azerbaijani community in Ural, on fraud charges. Mustafayev denied his guilt.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the Elders elected Vidadi Mustafayev, an opponent of the previously arrested Shahin Shykhlinski, as head of the Azerbaijani community in Ural. Mustafayev declared that the concept of diaspora has been abolished because it has exhausted its usefulness, promising to teach young people to live according to Russian law.

The Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg remanded Vidadi Mustafayev in pretrial detention until January 31, the press service of the Sverdlovsk Region courts reported.

According to investigators, Mustafayev fraudulently stole 16 million rubles from his friend. He pleaded not guilty. His lawyer insisted that his client was framed, Kommersant reports.

The criminal incident may be related to the purchase of a Porsche. According to one theory, Vidadi Mustafayev failed to pay for the car purchased from Navruz Sadatov. Another theory is that he received the car and 1 million rubles for his position as deputy head of the diaspora, but failed to fulfill his promise. When he refused to return the money and the car, Sadatov contacted the investigative authorities. At the trial, it was stated that the Porsche had already been confiscated from the defendant.

My activities are not related to crime; I am not a bandit.

Vidadi Mustafayev claimed he had been framed. He claimed he had planned to implement a number of projects with the victim on Lake Shartash in Yekaterinburg. Mustafayev stated that the relationship ended after people who had suffered at the hands of Navruz Sadatov approached him. "He scammed one of them out of a car, and entered into a sham marriage with the other to obtain citizenship. When I found out about this and wanted to meet with him, he went into hiding. My activities are not related to crime; I am not a bandit. I am ready to surrender my passport; I do not have any foreign currency. I have two minor children and a mother dependent on me. "The investigator could have called; I answer questions calmly," Mustafayev is quoted as saying in the publication.

According to the investigator, Mustafayev does not reside at his permanent address and may threaten witnesses. He has no regular income, and has recently been living and flying on money obtained through fraud. The investigator also stated that OBOP officers have information about several other citizens who have suffered at the hands of Vidadi Mustafayev and are awaiting his arrest so they can file complaints against him, the publication states.

Investigators believe that Vidadi has been living off the proceeds of his criminal activities for the past six months. The victim in the case stated that he paid for Mustafayev's flights, accommodations in Moscow and other cities, and other expenses, e1 reports. Relations between Moscow and Baku significantly deteriorated after the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board en route from Baku to Grozny in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024. More details can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Baku-Grozny Plane Crash" and in the article "Geopolitical Confrontation: What Led to the Crash of the AZAL Plane." Ethnic raids in Russia and retaliatory detentions of Russians in Azerbaijan marked a new stage in the deterioration of relations between the two countries. Baku accuses Russian authorities of extrajudicial killings of Azerbaijanis, and footage of the brutal detention of Russians in Baku appears to be a demonstrative response to Moscow's actions, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Crisis in Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia".

Signs of easing tensions in relations between the two countries only appeared in October: the first meeting in a long time between Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev took place on October 9 in Dushanbe, and on October 10, after the meeting, it became known that Sputnik Azerbaijan Executive Director Igor Kartavykh and one of the Azerbaijanis arrested in Russia had been released. On October 19, Kartavykh flew to Russia. On October 25, the agency's editor-in-chief, Yevgeny Belousov, arrived in Moscow, and on the same day, Yusif Khalilov, an entrepreneur from Voronezh and one of the leaders of the local diaspora, arrived in Baku. He was arrested in Russia on bribery charges.

Also on July 1, a Baku court arrested eight Russian citizens, detained on charges of drug trafficking and cybercrime. Moscow is counting on Baku to refrain from excessive and unfair harshness toward detained Russians, stated Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova. On July 16, it was reported that relatives of some Russians arrested in Baku were able to see them, and the Russian consul described their detention conditions as good. The Russians have extended their arrest period.