Placing Russian journalists on a wanted list may be “a scandal for the sake of a scandal”: Semyon Uralov

Russian journalist and political analyst Semyon Uralov, who himself was among the three Russian journalists placed on a wanted list by Azerbaijan, commented on the decision by Azerbaijani authorities to Alpha News.

According to Uralov, he learned of being placed on the wanted list from open sources, since representatives of Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office did not contact him directly.

“I found out, like everyone else, from open sources that I had been placed on a wanted list by Azerbaijan. And it’s quite strange that no one from Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office tried to contact me. Even though all my contacts are available in open sources, and there’s quite a lot of public activity. So they could have tried to ask questions somehow, or some Azerbaijani journalists could have tried to ask questions. But given that this wasn’t done, one can conclude that the goal is a scandal for the sake of a scandal,” Uralov noted.

Speaking about whether Baku’s decision came as a surprise to him, the journalist said he considers it predictable given the existing ideological contradictions.

“I work, among other things, in the field of ideology, political thinking, and cognitive warfare. I believe we have a worldview incompatibility with the concept of Azerbaijani statehood, which, let me remind you, regards the period of the RSFSR and USSR as an occupation. I have the same incompatibility with the Baltic states and with present-day Ukraine, which holds similar positions. So what’s surprising about that?” Uralov noted.

In Uralov’s opinion, the appearance of these accusations right now is linked to the overall political situation and Moscow’s recent steps regarding representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora.

“Why did they appear now? I believe it’s an element of political tactics. It’s connected precisely with the expulsion of Hasanov. And as for political trust between Moscow and Baku as states, I don’t think there’s really much of it anyway. Otherwise we would have had some form of actual alliance: Azerbaijan would, at the very least, be part of the EAEU and the CSTO. And we can see who Azerbaijan’s top leadership is showing its sympathies, to Zelensky. So everything is clear here,” Uralov concluded.