On July 18, Yagub Eyyubov, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, declined to attend the CIS Economic Council meeting held in Moscow. According to the state-controlled agency Trend, which cited a diplomatic source, Eyyubov’s refusal was attributed to recent developments in Yekaterinburg, the downing of an AZAL aircraft by Russian forces at the end of 2024, and the Russian side's failure to take appropriate actions to address these issues. The report highlighted that Eyyubov had regularly represented Azerbaijan at CIS events in the past.

However, on July 20, Hikmet Hajiyev, the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, commented on the matter during the 3rd Shusha Global Media Forum. Hajiyev stated that the Azerbaijani delegation’s non-participation in the meeting could be attributed to several objective reasons but emphasized that it was not related to the current status of Azerbaijan-Russia relations. "The absence of the Azerbaijani delegation at the meeting can be explained by various factors, including changes in the personal schedules of delegation members," Hajiyev explained.

In response to a direct question about whether the cancellation was connected to the AZAL aircraft incident in December 2024, Hajiyev stressed that bilateral issues between Russia and Azerbaijan are separate from multilateral frameworks like the CIS. "This event is held within the framework of the CIS. Issues on the bilateral agenda between Russia and Azerbaijan have no relation to this," he said.