Azerbaijan Airlines Crash
Putin admits fault for deadly plane crash to Aliyev in awkward press conference
Putin nonetheless partially cast the blame on Ukrainian drones entering Russian airspace at the time.
Nate Ostiller
Nate joined OC Media as an editor after a year at The Kyiv Independent, where he covered Ukraine, Russia, and the South Caucasus. He has a background in grant writing and reporting on post-Soviet geopolitics, with a focus on conflict-sensitive journalism and human rights.
Azerbaijan
Aliyev meets with Macron, Pashinyan, and other leaders in Copenhagen
Azerbaijan has long been at odds with France, largely over French support for Armenia.
Daghestan
Shadowy Daghestani billionaire arrested in reported connection to decades-old murder case
Ibrahim Suleimanov and his family have a wide array of business interests across Russia.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan complains about spread of fake news from Turkish media
The prominent Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet APA released a lengthy article decrying the increase of the ‘fake news campaign’ in Turkish media.
Armenia
Yerevan Court finds Armenian Archbishop Ajapahyan guilty of publicly calling for a coup
Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan had been arrested in June 2025 for calling for the seizure of state power and other related offences.
OC Insider
Azerbaijan’s toxic pro-government media cannot coexist with real peace
The Azerbaijani government’s Media Development Agency released a statement on Tuesday decrying the spread of fake news about the country. The statement cited recent false stories that had gone viral — that Azerbaijan would withdraw from the Eurovision song contest if Israel is banned and that Azerbaijan has been supplying Ukraine with weapons via Sudan. The agency called the stories ‘disinformation’ and called on ‘the international community, media resources, journalists, and public activists [
