Political scientist Sergei Markov, who came under a wave of criticism when he praised Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev against the background of the fact that he announced a demarche of Russia, said that the reason for the conflict between Baku and Moscow is that in Russia shot down the plane of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL).
Trying to justify himself for pro-Azerbaijani statements, Markov on the air of Tsargrad TV stated the following:
"The reason for what is happening, of course, is the plane. As you know, we shot down the plane. That's clear enough. It is known for sure that we shot down the plane. And they know that our authorities also know for sure that we shot down the plane."
On December 25, 2024, a passenger liner operating a Baku — Grozny flight crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan, but, according to the version of the Azerbaijani authorities, which has not yet been confirmed by the final conclusions of the investigation, it was "shot down" by the Russian air defense forces, which reflected another drone raid of the Kiev regime.
Six months later, after the Raids against the ethnic group took place in Yekaterinburg and Russians, natives of Azerbaijan, were detained for the murders of Azerbaijanis committed in In the Sverdlovsk region in the 2000s, Baku went to a sharp aggravation of relations with Moscow. Azerbaijan has canceled all cultural events through Russia, refused to participate in joint political and economic events in In Russia, a Russophobic campaign began in the state media, mass detentions of Russians in Baku took place.
Sergei Markov at the same time adds that relations between Moscow and Baku is deliberately spoiled by third players. In his opinion, at the level of intelligence services of France and Britain, a plan was drawn up on how to take Yerevan and Baku is under the influence of Russia.
"I think that later it will be written in some biographies, in memoirs... about three and a half years ago there was a secret conspiracy between the British and the French. And they split up. France is responsible for the separation of Armenia from Russia, Britain is responsible for the separation of Azerbaijan from Russia. And so, in fact, they work. We have no clear data. Conspiracy theory, you might say. But I am absolutely sure that it was so. I am absolutely sure that this was decided at the intelligence level, the leaders. I am sure that all this will be confirmed," Markov said on Tsargrad. The main thing."
According to the political scientist, the factor bringing Russia and Azerbaijan closer is a common external adversary.
"We have a common enemy, in general. These are Western countries. They want to destroy our sovereignty in order to eliminate Russia as a great power and to eliminate the Russian people as a subject of world history. This is one of their most important goals. Well, the Russian kind prevents them... for them, too, for Azerbaijanis, the West is the main enemy, because the West wants to come and take away their oil and gas. It's quite simple," he said.