Azerbaijan closed a Russian cultural centre in Baku, the foreign ministry said Thursday, as ties with Moscow sour over claims Russian air defence systems hit an Azerbaijani plane mid-air, causing it to crash and kill 38 people.
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan’s western city of Aktau on 25 December after being forced to divert from its scheduled landing in the southern Russian city of Grozny, where air defence systems were active.
A Kazakh investigation said Tuesday the plane had probably been damaged by “external objects”.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly said it was accidentally shot by Russian air defence.
He has criticised Moscow for attempting to “hush up” its role in the incident — in which 38 of the 67 people on board died — and demanded an official apology.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada said on Thursday that a diplomatic note “was sent to the Russian side on February 3, 2025, terminating the activities of ‘Russian House.’”
He said the cultural centre “did not have registration as a legal entity and the organisation has been seriously violating Azerbaijani legislation.”
The centre taught Russian language and history and had a reputation of having ties to Russian intelligence.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told reporters she expected the issue to be “resolved in a positive way” and that Russia was ready to register the centre as required by Azerbaijani law.
On Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s pro-government APA news agency, which often receives sensitive government leaks — reported that Baku is preparing to sue Moscow in an international court over the jet’s downing.
A preliminary report released on Tuesday by Kazakhstan, which is leading the investigation as the crash occurred on its territory, did not identify the reason why the plane went off course.
The report referred to “external objects” and included photographs of the plane’s fuselage riddled with holes.
According to its probe, the crew had reported to air traffic control in Russia’s city of Grozny about losing a GPS signal and shortly later lost control of the plane.
Western experts have said the plane was likely shot at from Russia.
Russia has admitted that its air defence was working the day the plane crashed, on December 25, and that it was repelling a Ukrainian drone attack.
But Moscow has stopped short of claiming responsibility for the crash.