Asif Mamedov, chairman of the public organization "National-Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis" in the Ivanovo region of Russia, has been stripped of his Russian citizenship.

The decision was reportedly made by the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB). The reason cited for this decision was "activities that pose a threat to national security."

Recently, the prosecutor requested a 23-year prison sentence for Shahin Shikhlinsky, the former head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Yekaterinburg. He was found guilty of murder and attempted murder of businessmen.

As a reminder, on June 27, 2025, in Yekaterinburg, officers from the Russian National Guard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the FSB detained Azerbaijani citizens and persons of Azerbaijani descent. They were suspected of involvement in previous crimes. Some of them were tortured, and two died – 60-year-old Huseyn Safarov and his brother, 55-year-old Ziyaddin Safarov. Baku also noted that other detainees were tortured. Six people were sent to pretrial detention. Subsequently, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case for the torture and premeditated murder with particular cruelty of two Azerbaijani citizens and individuals of Azerbaijani descent by Russian law enforcement officers. Following this, persecution of Azerbaijani diaspora leaders in Russia increased. Shikhlinsky was one of them.

Furthermore, Islam Huseynov, head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Ulyanovsk region, Arshad Khankishiyev in the Chelyabinsk region, and Bakhtiyar Hasanov, head of the Council of National and Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis, were stripped of their Russian citizenship.