The head of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Grigory Karasin, announced during a meeting with the delegation of the Milli Majlis in Baku that the Russian Foreign Ministry intends to open a consulate general in Khankendi in 2024. “This will allow us to address the disparity in mutual consular presence,” he added.
This announcement by the Russian senator has greatly concerned the Azerbaijani public, raising worried questions on social media. I have received several requests to comment on the situation.
I do not have insider information. The arguments justifying the necessity of opening a Russian consulate general specifically in Khankendi and as early as 2024 have not been articulated, and they are unknown to me. Opening a consulate merely to address disparity seems unjustified.
Grigory Karasin is a very experienced diplomat, having held senior positions in the Russian Foreign Ministry for a long time. However, his statement about the consulate general in Khankendi should not be taken as official policy. It is more of a probing remark. The position of the Azerbaijani government will only be determined after the Russian Foreign Ministry makes a formal note.
Following established practice, this will be followed by meetings, negotiations, correspondence between diplomats, clarifications, and assessments of the feasibility and advisability of opening the consulate general specifically in Khankendi. Only after reaching a principled agreement will the timing, location, and candidate for the consul general be determined.
Indeed, there are two Azerbaijani consulates general in Russia, in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. Their necessity is due to the vast size of the Russian Federation and the presence of tens of thousands of Azerbaijani citizens in these cities and surrounding areas, either permanently or temporarily. Azerbaijan, being a relatively small country, has so far provided consular services from Baku.
In Khankendi and its surroundings, following the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, there are no Russian military personnel or their families. Access to the area is restricted and regulated in a special manner. Azerbaijani citizens, who were expelled, are only now beginning to return. There are no Russian enterprises, nor has air and rail communication been restored. It is unclear what consular activities the Russian Foreign Ministry intends to conduct here.
If I were to speculate, I would suggest that several tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Armenians with roots in Karabakh reside in Russia. Among them are quite prominent individuals, though I will not list them as they are often mentioned by Armenians themselves. If the Russian consulate in Khankendi is planned to facilitate travel to Karabakh for these individuals as Russian citizens, it is premature. Entry for individuals of Armenian ethnicity, regardless of citizenship, into Azerbaijan is not currently permitted. Until a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia is concluded, this order is unlikely to change, making a Russian consulate in Khankendi pointless.
In general, negotiations on such delicate issues require confidentiality. The esteemed Mr. Karasin, as an experienced diplomat, knows this better than anyone.
Rasim Musabayov
