Azerbaijani security forces raided the office of the Russian state-run Sputnik news agency in Baku on Tuesday morning (1th of July) and detained a number of employees of the media outlet on charges of collaborating with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
The Azerbaijani Interior Ministry says that Igor Kartavikh, the executive director of Sputnik’s Baku branch, and Yevgeny Belousov, the editor-in-chief of the media outlet, are among those detained and accused of working for Russian intelligence services.
The incident occurred at a time when relations between Baku and Moscow have become extremely tense due to several issues, including the crash of the Azal Airlines plane and the hacking of Azerbaijani state-run websites and media outlets that displayed the logos of groups linked to Iran.
Azerbaijani officials claim that the hacks originated from Russia, and Baku has demanded a formal apology from the Russian president.
On the other hand, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed deep concern about these arrests and said that its communication with Sputnik journalists in Baku has been cut off.
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