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A Russian court has banned the Oscar-winning documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” inside the country.
In an interview with MT, co-director Pavel Talankin said he believes discussions around the film are already changing Russian society.
themoscowtimes.com/2026/03/2…— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) Mar 26, 2026
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Drug trafficking in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry, State Border Service, and pro-government media have in recent years regularly reported drug seizures, arrests of dealers, and, in particular, cases of smuggling from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
These reports often refer to large consignments — ranging from 10 to 50 kilograms or more — the use of drones to move drugs across the border, and other methods of illegal trafficking, frequently mentioning Iranian nationals.
Drawing on official data and open sources, we analysed such cases over the past two years, from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025.
Authorities do not publish official statistics on the number of anti-drug operations. We therefore compiled our own monitoring database, using Interior Ministry and Border Service press releases, data from the State Statistics Committee, and media reports.
According to Interior Minister Vilayat Eyvazov’s address at an Interior Ministry board meeting on 24 January 2025, the overall picture for 2024 in terms of drug seizures is as follows:
Official comparisons for the first halves of 2024 and 2025 show the following:
According to the State Statistics Committee, between January and June 2024, authorities recorded 18,518 crimes in the country. Of these, 5,674 (30.6%) related to the illegal circulation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. During the same period, they seized 4,144.4 kg of narcotics, psychotropic substances, precursors, and drug-containing plants.
For January–June 2025, the same sources report a decline in both the number and share of drug-related crimes. Out of 17,049 recorded crimes, 4,667 (27.4%) involved drug trafficking. Officials present this as a 17.7% decrease compared to the same period of the previous year. At the same time, the volume of seized substances reached 4,256.0 kg — 2.7% higher than a year earlier.
Analytical materials from the Interior Ministry on the crime situation for January–June show a similar trend. In the first half of 2025, reported drug offences fell by 18%, while authorities seized 2 tonnes 958 kg of narcotics.
For the first half of 2024, the comparable figure stood at 2 tonnes 844 kg. Methodological differences may explain some of the variation — for example, differences in how agencies compile data or which categories they include. However, the overall direction in official reporting is clear: figures are presented either as a decrease or an increase.
Most reports shaping the narrative of an “Iranian factor” at the border come from the State Border Service (SBS).
In a statement dated 21 March 2024, the SBS said officers discovered a rubber boat in a reed area along the Araz River, within the Horadiz border unit’s zone of responsibility. The boat contained 102 kg of narcotics — including marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine — as well as 8,010 methadone tablets. Authorities presented the case as an attempted smuggling operation from the Islamic Republic of Iran into Azerbaijan.
In autumn 2024, several large-scale SBS operations drew attention.
On the Caspian coast, in the Khachmaz district near Niyazabad and close to the Russian border, a joint operation involving the coast guard and border vessels led to the discovery of 205 kg 135 grams of narcotics and 13,110 methadone tablets. The SBS said three Azerbaijani citizens were detained in connection with the case. The statement did not specify the country of origin of the drugs.
On 30 September 2024, the SBS also reported detecting an aerial device travelling from Iran to Azerbaijan in the direction of the Horadiz border unit. Officers intercepted the device and found 19.7 kg of marijuana and 1,500 methadone tablets.
SBS reports in 2025 describe the Iranian route more systematically and include more detailed technical explanations of the methods used.
For example, in a statement dated 29 July 2025, the SBS said it had prevented an attempt to transport drugs from Iran to Azerbaijan using an unmanned aerial vehicle in the Horadiz sector. Authorities seized 12.1 kg of marijuana and 399 methadone tablets.
In April 2025, the SBS also described an incident in which a “small package” was dropped from a drone, followed by the arrest of individuals who arrived on the Azerbaijani side to collect it. On 8 April, officers detained two suspects who, according to the SBS, admitted they had come to retrieve 4 kg 504 grams of marijuana dropped by drone.
On 6 April, the SBS reported that a joint operation with Interior Ministry officers had prevented the transfer of 14 kg 240 grams of narcotics — including marijuana and methamphetamine — using a drone.
Operations increase again towards the end of the year
By the end of the year, the scale of operations rises again.
On 20 November 2025, officers in the Göytepe border unit prevented an attempt to smuggle drugs from Iran using an aerial device. Authorities seized 33 kg 345 grams of various narcotics — including marijuana, methamphetamine, opium, and methadone-containing liquid — along with 6,758 methadone tablets.
In December 2025, two more major incidents were reported in the Lankaran border sector. A statement dated 11 December said officers had prevented an attempt to smuggle a total of 53 kg 250 grams of narcotics from Iran, along with 1,450 methadone tablets. They also detained a suspect and reported the discovery of additional drugs on different days.
In another statement on 9 December, the SBS reported the interception of 30 kg 596 grams of marijuana and 3,200 methadone tablets smuggled from Iran. Officers also detained an individual suspected of attempting to receive the shipment, in a joint operation with the Lerik district police department.
A report published by the state news agency AZERTAC on 8 December 2025, citing SBS data, points to the same trend. In the Horadiz sector, officers detained individuals attempting to transport drugs from Iran and seized a total of 8 kg 456 grams of marijuana. The report described them as “a resident of the city of Ganja” and “a resident of the Aghdam district”, without specifying citizenship.
As part of this analysis, a basic monitoring count based on the SBS reports cited above — not a complete list — shows that the total volume of seized drugs across 15 selected incidents in 2025 amounted to approximately 361.9 kg. For 2024, across 8 incidents, the figure stood at around 520.7 kg.
In most operations reported in 2025, officials explicitly refer to the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2024, however, several major cases do not explicitly emphasise the country of origin.
These figures reflect only aggregated data from selected published reports on operations and do not represent the total annual volume of seizures.
The World Drug Report for 2024 and 2025, produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), serves as a key source on global drug markets and trafficking routes.
Mapping modules published in 2025 show the main routes used to move drugs, including heroin and morphine, based on seizure data. Analysts use these maps to understand the regional transit nature of trafficking routes.
In its 2025 publication Drug Situation in Afghanistan, the UNODC highlights the geography of opiate seizures linked to Afghan supply. It notes that a significant share of opium seizures — a natural narcotic derived from the opium poppy — occurs in Iran.
This points to Iran’s role in the region as a transit country and one of the main locations where opiates are intercepted.
As for whether tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran shape such reporting, the available sources offer only limited grounds for conclusions.
In the selected SBS reports, officials focus primarily on operational details — location, method, volume — and the course of investigations. However, in a broader political context, one can assume that such reporting may also contribute to a narrative of an external threat to Azerbaijan.
Drug trafficking in Azerbaijan
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The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, which oversees the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights rulings, published its annual report on March 25, according to which in 2025, it received eleven new cases from the ECtHR against Georgia, while 77 cases were pending execution. Seven cases were closed, full payment of just satisfaction was confirmed in nine, and delays were reported in five.
According to the report, the 11 new cases received from the Court for supervision of their execution were slightly fewer than 13 in 2024 and 15 in 2023. “Of the new violations found by the Court in 2025, most of them concerned the excessive length of judicial proceedings and issues related to freedom of assembly,” the report said, adding, “One new case concerned the excessive use of force by the police during the dispersal of a demonstration.”
By the end of 2025, 77 cases were pending implementation, compared to 73 in 2024 and 78 in 2023. Of these, nine leading cases were classified under the “enhanced procedure,” while 20 were under the “standard procedure.” According to the report, “Of the leading cases under enhanced procedure, five have been pending for five years or more; similarly, nine of the leading cases under standard procedure have been pending for five years or more (compared to nine in 2024 and eight in 2023).”
According to the report, since Georgia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, a total of 202 cases have been brought before the Committee of Ministers, including 82 leading and 120 repetitive cases.
In 2025, the Georgian authorities submitted seven action plans and 15 action reports to the Committee of Ministers. Updates were still awaited in four groups/cases where feedback had been provided before the start of the year.
Full payment of just satisfaction was confirmed in nine cases in 2025. However, confirmation of payment and/or default interest remained pending in five cases, “for which the deadline indicated in the Court’s judgment has passed since more than six months.”
The Committee of Ministers closed seven cases against Georgia in 2025, including two leading cases under “standard supervision.”
One of these concerned “the violation of the right to respect for family life, following the evolution of judicial practice related to the best interests of the child in proceedings under the 1980 Hague Convention on the civil aspects of international child abduction.”
The report added that “five repetitive cases were closed because no further individual measures were necessary or possible.”
The annual report said that throughout 2025, the Committee of Ministers examined and adopted decisions on five leading cases/groups “under enhanced procedure.”
The report noted that the pending caseload includes notably cases concerning “the failure to take preventive action regarding domestic violence and the failure to investigate the law-enforcement authorities’ inaction; the length of judicial proceedings and the absence of an effective remedy in this respect; the right to a fair trial and the impartiality of a tribunal.”
Georgia is also referenced in the context of interstate and conflict-related cases against Russia. These include one case concerning “the arrest, detention and expulsion from the Russian Federation of large numbers of Georgian nationals” between September 2006 and January 2007, and another “concerning various violations of the Convention in the context of the armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Georgia in August 2008.”
The report said that the Committee of Ministers “exhorted the Russian authorities to abide fully, effectively, and promptly by the final judgments of the European Court and insisted again firmly on the unconditional obligation of Russia to pay without further delay the just satisfaction amounts awarded by the European Court along with the interest accrued.”
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