30.06.2025 18:21
In Azerbaijan, an operation was carried out at the Baku office of the Russian news agency Sputnik. It was claimed that the two employees taken into custody were members of the Russian Federal Security Service.
In a statement from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was reported that Sputnik's Baku office continued to operate on the basis of illegal financing despite its accreditation being suspended, and an investigation has been initiated regarding the matter.
2 SPUTNIK EMPLOYEES DETAINED IN BAKU
The statement noted that teams affiliated with the ministry conducted a search at Sputnik's Baku office as part of the investigation, and some employees were detained. Local media reports suggested that the two detained employees of Sputnik were also members of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
SPUTNIK'S ACTIVITIES HAD BEEN SUSPENDED
The Azerbaijani government had decided to suspend the activities of Sputnik's Baku office in February 2025. It was reported that the decision was made to ensure reciprocity between the activities of Azerbaijani state media abroad and the work of foreign press members in Azerbaijan, and within this framework, it was anticipated that the number of Sputnik reporters operating in Baku would be equal to the number of reporters from the Azerbaijani State News Agency (AZERTAC) in Russia.
Sputnık's Baku office did not comply with this decision and had not suspended its office activities and personnel work during the elapsed time.
TENSIONS BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN AND RUSSIA
After an Azerbaijani passenger plane was damaged by gunfire from the ground while in Russian airspace on December 25, 2024, leading to its crash near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan requested an apology from Russia and the punishment of those responsible, but this request was not met.
Azerbaijan terminated the activities of the "Russian Cultural Center," known as the "Russian House," operating in Baku, and President Ilham Aliyev did not attend the ceremonies held in Moscow to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
On June 27, Russian security forces conducted raids on homes inhabited by Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg, resulting in the deaths of 2 Azerbaijanis, several others being seriously injured, and 9 people being detained.
Pyotr Volokovıh, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Russian Embassy in Baku, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where Azerbaijan's reaction was expressed, and the expectation for the urgent investigation of the matter and the prosecution of all individuals involved in the violent incidents was communicated.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture canceled all cultural activities of Russia in the country due to the violence and extrajudicial killings of Azerbaijanis by Russian security forces.