In Baku, police officers have searched the office of the pro-Kremlin Sputnik Azerbaijan agency, local publications APA and Report report. Details are not yet known.
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian media group RT, said that employees of the Russian Embassy in Baku had gone to the office of the publication. “The staff are not in touch – apparently deprived of access to the phone. There are Russian citizens among them,” she wrote in her Telegram channel.
In February, Azerbaijani authorities decided to reduce the number of editorial staff from 40 to one in order to “restore balance in the conditions under which Azerbaijani state publications abroad and foreign journalists work” in Baku.
Report writes that despite this, it turned out that the agency continued to operate and its staff went to work.
Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia escalated after more than 50 people of Azerbaijani origin were detained in Yekaterinburg on 27 June. Two people died and two others were seriously injured during the raid. Baku called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the detentions were carried out as part of an investigation into serious crimes. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova specified that the cases in question were those related to murders committed in 2001, 2010 and 2011.