In recent weeks, Russian media outlets, state-sanctioned and unrelentingly belligerent, have amplified threats against Azerbaijan, signalling yet again Moscow’s obsession with coercion as a tool of influence. These threats, which intensified after the downing of an Azerbaijani Air flight, have reached a crescendo in the wake of Azerbaijan and Armenia’s Washington declaration, a diplomatic gesture that Moscow clearly resents. It is tempting to dismiss these signals as empty posturing. Yet, the Kremlin’s reliance on intimidation exposes a deeper truth: Russia has little to offer the world beyond the spectacle of force.

The historical context is instructive. The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia did not begin in the post-Soviet era; it predates the very independence of these states. And Russia, far from being an impartial partner, has been a consistent provocateur. Kremlin strategists have long understood that their country lacks meaningful economic or technological innovation to project power globally. Thus, they have cultivated influence through war, coercion, and the manipulation of neighbourly disputes. This is not a strategy; it is desperation disguised as ambition.

Yet the world has changed. Neither Azerbaijan nor even its erstwhile “ally” Armenia sees Russia as indispensable. To ally with Moscow today is, in the long run, to accept stagnation and impoverishment. The lesson is clear: the farther one can distance oneself........

© AzerNews