Baku: Azerbaijan has detained two senior journalists from the local branch of Russia's state-run news agency Sputnik, further straining relations between Baku and Moscow amid a heated dispute over the treatment of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Russia.
The Azerbaijani Interior Ministry confirmed on Monday that it had launched a probe into Sputnik Azerbaijan and carried out a raid on the agency's offices. Authorities released footage showing police escorting two men in handcuffs into police vehicles. Russian state agency RIA Novosti identified the detained individuals as Sputnik Azerbaijan’s editor-in-chief and the head of its editorial board.
Separately, Ruptly, another Russian media outlet, reported that one of its editors was also detained while attempting to film the police operation in Baku.
The arrests come in the wake of a police crackdown in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where authorities arrested six individuals with Russian citizenship in connection to long-standing unsolved crimes, including serial murders. Two of the suspects later died, prompting outrage in Azerbaijan after its Interior Ministry identified all those detained as ethnic Azerbaijanis.
Russian investigators claimed one of the suspects had died from heart failure, while the cause of death for the second individual is pending autopsy results. Their bodies were expected to be flown to Baku for further examination.
In a strongly worded statement, Azerbaijani officials accused Russian authorities of targeting the suspects based on ethnicity and committing extrajudicial killings — a charge the Kremlin has firmly denied.
As the situation unfolded, Russia summoned Azerbaijan's ambassador to Moscow to protest what it described as "hostile acts" and the "unlawful detention" of Russian journalists.
Azerbaijani police say the investigation into Sputnik Azerbaijan is focused on allegations of illicit funding. Although the government had ordered the outlet’s closure in February, it continued to function with a limited team.
Dmitry Kiselev, Director General of Russia’s Rossiya Segodnya media group — which operates Sputnik — said on Telegram that discussions had been underway to temporarily legitimize the outlet's presence in Baku. He condemned the dramatic arrest of staff, calling it an intentional affront to bilateral relations.
“This appears to be a calculated move to damage the relationship between our nations,” Kiselev wrote.
The political fallout has already begun. Azerbaijan’s parliament has withdrawn from scheduled diplomatic talks in Moscow and cancelled a planned visit by a Russian deputy prime minister. Additionally, Azerbaijan’s Culture Ministry announced the suspension of upcoming Russian-sponsored cultural events in protest of what it calls systematic violence by Russian law enforcement against Azerbaijani nationals.
Commenting on the cultural freeze, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed regret over Baku’s response, emphasizing that the incidents in Yekaterinburg were strictly law enforcement matters and should not be politicized.
"We view these developments with sincere disappointment," Peskov said Monday. "Law enforcement actions should not be misinterpreted as acts of ethnic discrimination."
