Traditional aggression of Russian propaganda: blackmail in response to Azerbaijan's fair demands

The publication of the preliminary report on the AZAL passenger plane crash and measures to suppress illegal activities of the "Russian House" in Azerbaijan caused hysteria in Russia's political space and the expected and usual Russian responses to the weighty arguments of official Baku.

As in previous cases of problems in relations with any post-Soviet republic, the Russian side traditionally resorted to blackmail, threatening primarily to put pressure on the diaspora.

In this case, State Duma deputies from the ruling United Russia party acted as heralds, calling for proven "measures" against Azerbaijan. Deputy Nikolai Valuev demanded closing Azerbaijani diaspora organizations in Russia, restricting business, expelling illegally residing Azerbaijanis, and sending legally residing ones to military registration and the front, etc. This "bright" representative of "Great Russian chauvinism" used a derogatory slang term "shobla-vobla" to refer to people from Central Asia and the Caucasus.

If in the Russian Federation, which positions itself as a state of 100 peoples, a State Duma deputy uses offensive words against representatives of certain nationalities, this should be a serious signal for representatives of all others living there.

It's quite obvious that Valuev's proposed package of measures against Azerbaijan is not a product of thinking of someone who dedicated his life to boxing and consequently received multiple head injuries throughout his sports career. The roots of these statements should be sought in instructions coming from the Kremlin.

How else to explain that Valuev's proposals were echoed in statements by two other State Duma deputies?

In particular, United Russia deputy Evgeny Popov proposed reviewing the activities of two Azerbaijani companies in Russia if Rossotrudnichestvo's activities in Azerbaijan are suspended.

And deputy Andrei Pinchuk, who received his mandate for "successes" in separatist activities in Ukraine's Donetsk region, named these companies, calling for almost confiscating the property of Crocus company and the Sadovod trading complex.