Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev congratulated Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine's Independence Day, expressing his warmest wishes to the Ukrainian people. He stressed that relations between the two countries are based on historical ties, friendship and mutual respect and continue to strengthen in various areas, including the economy and energy.

A protest action organized by the party “For the Sake of the Republic” took place in the Armenian city of Gyumri, demanding the withdrawal of the Russian military base from the territory of Armenia.

Russian political scientist Sergei Markov has been given the status of a "foreign agent". This was preceded by criticism on Z-channels against him for compliments to the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

US President Donald Trump, once again criticizing the policies of his predecessors, said that Barack Obama and George Bush are to blame for the loss of Crimea and part of Georgia. On the air of the "Mark Levin Show", the American leader noted that the peninsula was "given away" by Obama, and part of Georgia was "lost" under Bush, emphasizing that under him Russia "did not take anything" from other countries.

The Ryazan Regional Court sentenced a native of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Lukinskaya, to five years in prison under the article on confidential cooperation with a foreign state (Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This criminal article, which provides for three to eight years of imprisonment, was introduced in Russia in 2022. Details of the case are classified.

Azerbaijani MP Mushfig Jafarov has accused Russia of deliberately pressuring the country. According to him, raids and murders of Azerbaijanis in Russia are not accidental.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Armenia on August 18 for a two-day official visit. In Yerevan, he held a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, after which the talks continued in an expanded format. The parties summed up the results at a joint press conference.

The leader of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan Ali Karimli accused the country's President Ilham Aliyev of establishing "harsh authoritarianism". He spoke about the systematic persecution of the opposition and independent journalists.

Cases of persecution of leaders of the Azerbaijani diaspora have become more frequent in Russia. Thus, the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Chelyabinsk region, Arshad Khankishiyev, was deprived of Russian citizenship. The media associate this decision with "propaganda of ethno-separatism" and support for oppositionist Alexei Navalny.

After new Russian strikes on facilities of the Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR located in Ukraine, calls for more decisive actions than just statements are being heard in Baku.