The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's statement, calling it provocative and a distortion of historical facts. Speaking on the anniversary of the 1915 events, Mamdani linked the killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire to modern-day events, accusing Azerbaijan and Turkey of attacking Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and "expelling" more than 100,000 people in 2023.
Makhachkala resident Kadi Gadzhiev was accused of participating in an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) called “Citizens of the USSR.” According to investigators, he was a member of the executive committee of the Makhachkala City Council of People's Deputies of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR/USSR, a structural division of the MOO USSR.
Previously, six people have already been convicted for participation in this organization; criminal cases against four more people are under consideration. In particular, Makhmud Ibadulaev was sentenced to two years and two months in prison. He called for refusal to pay taxes and housing and utility bills, to fulfill civil obligations, and “promoted hatred of government bodies of the Russian Federation.”
“Citizens of the USSR” is a movement that does not recognize the Russian Federation as a state. Its participants urge not to sign any documents and notify government officials of the need to relieve them from their positions.