On October 2–3, 2024, the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Sergey E. Naryshkin, paid an official visit to Baku. According to Russian official sources, during the visit, he met with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and held talks with the leadership of the Foreign Intelligence Service Orkhan Sultanov and the State Security Service of Azerbaijan Ali Naghiyev.
Joint operation and “elimination of a provocative threat”
One of the important points of the visit of the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia to Azerbaijan, in his interview for the first time Naryshkin talked about the joint operation of two countries. Although he didn’t share more details of the operation, he mentioned that they “managed to eliminate a provocative threat”.
“Recently, we have been observing and feeling an increase in subversive activities directed against the foreign institutions and citizens of our two countries abroad. As an example, I can say that not too long ago, through the joint efforts of our intelligence services, we managed to eliminate a provocative threat against one of the Russian diplomats from the Americans,” said Sergey Naryshkin, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service to local media Mir24.
Neither Azerbaijani, nor Russian media outlets covered in detail about the operation that Naryshkin talked about. It remains unclear what had been the “elimination of a provocative threat”, and when and in which country the operation was done.
“Prevention of subversive actions organised abroad”
During Naryshkin’s meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Orkhan Sultanov and Head of Azerbaijan’s State Security Service Ali Naghiyev, it was mentioned that “one of the main tasks of intelligence and counterintelligence is the timely identification and prevention of subversive actions organised abroad with anti-Russian and anti-Azerbaijani aims”.
“The need to strengthen joint efforts to counter the use of non-systemic opposition and international terrorist organisations by foreign intelligence services to destabilise the socio-political situation in Russia and Azerbaijan was also highlighted” – reports the official website of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia.
In his meetings, Naryshkin also mentioned that his country’s special focus in terms of cooperation with Azerbaijan is “on efforts to identify the hostile intentions of Western intelligence services aimed at undermining domestic political stability in our countries”.
Local Azerbaijani state media and official sources remain silent on the visit
While Azerbaijani state-controlled media preferred not to cover the visit of Naryshkin, local Russian news agencies covered his visit. At the same time, the official website of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia shared his photo which was taken in Baku.
Although the official website of the Azerbaijani president and Azerbaijani state-controlled media usually publish all meetings of Ilham Aliyev, his discussion with Naryshkin was not covered. However, several local news agencies shared short news on the visit.
Naryshkin didn’t forget to talk about Georgia
In his visit to Baku Naryshkin talked about Georgia as well, during his conversation with journalists. According to Ekho Kavkaza, he stated that the U.S. is attempting to influence the parliamentary elections in Georgia, which will be held on October 26.
Russian official talked about the interim report of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and described it as an attempt to interfere in Georgia’s internal affairs, however Naryshkin is sure that “the people of Georgia will make the right and accurate choice”.
