Azerbaijan says Russia was behind massive cyberattack

Ramid Namazov, chairman of the Azerbaijani parliament's commission on countering hybrid threats, has claimed that Russia was behind a February 2025 cyberattack on the country.

Source: Namazov at a public hearing on 2 May, quoted by Azerbaijan's state news agency APA, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Namazov said an investigation found that the 20 February cyberattack against Azerbaijani media was carried out by the APT29 group, also known as Cozy Bear, which is linked to Russian military intelligence.

"The activities of APT29, which is engaged in cyber espionage, are mainly directed against government agencies and foreign diplomatic missions, as well as the sectors of politics, defence, energy, media and other critical areas," the MP noted.

He said the attackers had penetrated the networks of Azerbaijani media systems in advance.

The MP claims that the cyberattack was triggered by the Azerbaijani authorities’ decision on 3 February to close the Russian House in Baku due to violations of the law and the potential closure of the Azerbaijani branch of Sputnik Radio.

"It is because of these processes that this politically motivated incident of cyber interference occurred," Namazov said.

Background:

• It should be noted that Russian-Azerbaijani relations were already tense at the time due to the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight in December 2024 near Grozny.
• Azerbaijan reportedly has evidence that the plane, which crashed in December after being diverted from Russia to Kazakhstan, was shot down by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system.

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