The president has reaffirmed the special place that the Russian language has in Azerbaijan even as a backlash against Russian culture has swept the rest of the world.
The ruling party, apparently fed up with President Salome Zourabichvili’s outspoken support for Ukraine, now says it will appeal to the Constitutional Court because she has overstepped her duties.
Alt-info, a right-wing, anti-Western group that rose to prominence for leading anti-queer pogroms last year, is now opening offices around the country amid rising anti-Russia sentiment.
While the government has maintained a deeply cautious stance, coverage of the war in the state-controlled media has shown a clear, albeit implicit, pro-Ukraine stance.
Salome Zourabichvili has largely been seen as a ruling party-managed figurehead. But she is lately charting a more independent path, particularly on Ukraine, cheering many of her former detractors.