[3] Since their arrival at the beginning of the 19th century, the Russians have played an important role in all spheres of life, particularly during the Czarist and Soviet period, especially in the capital city of Baku.

Although a Cossack outpost near Lankaran already existed in 1795, the first Russian civilian settlers in Azerbaijan arrived only between 1830 and 1850, after the ratification of the Treaty of Turkmenchay.

[4] In the mid-1830s ethnic Russians from the governorates of Tambov, Voronezh, and Samara began to arrive in the Shamakhy and Shusha uyezds, establishing the settlements of Vel, Privolnoye, Prishib, Nikolaevka, and İvanovka.

[8] In the second half of the 19th century, the South Caucasus saw an unauthorised settlement of mainstream Russian Orthodox migrants, mostly landless peasants from European Russia.

Interethnic conflicts in the South Caucasus that accompanied the Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani declarations of independence in 1918 greatly impacted the Russian population.

The last massive wave of Russian migration in Azerbaijan was observed in 1949, having to do with the development of the industrial city of Sumqayit north of Baku.

[11] The deterioration of the Azerbaijani-Russian relations and the ensuing anti-Russian propaganda of the Popular Front played contributed to the concern of the Russian population for its future in Azerbaijan.

Although, according to the then Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan Walter Shonia, the new government did not pursue the policy of suppressing the Russian population, the press and some party leaders in their speeches supported the nationalist feelings by mentioning Russia as an ally of Armenia in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and a power which sought to deprive Azerbaijan of its newfound independence.

However, the Russian vernacular of Baku reveals a series of distinct features in phonetics, vocabulary and prosody, characteristic of Russian-speakers of all ethnicities in Azerbaijan.