Azerbaijan announces detention of Russian FSB agents working at Sputnik in Baku

Azerbaijan announced the detention of two Russian FSB agents who were working undercover at the propaganda agency Sputnik Azerbaijan.

On Monday morning, Baku police conducted an operation at the Sputnik Azerbaijan office (the Baku branch of the Russian MIA Rossiya Segodnya). During the operation, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs detained two Russian FSB employees working at the agency, APA reported.

In February, Azerbaijan decided to suspend the activities of Sputnik Azerbaijan.

The decision was intended to ensure parity between the activities of Azerbaijan’s state media abroad and foreign journalists in the country: the number of Sputnik Azerbaijan journalists working in Baku was to be equal to the number of AZERTAC journalists in Russia.

However, the editorial staff of Sputnik Azerbaijan ignored this decision: the editorial office and staff did not cease their activities.

Russia’s Sputnik has been known for spreading Kremlin propaganda, and it has been subject toEU and US sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Recently, a scandal erupted between Baku and Moscow after more than 50 Azerbaijani nationals were detained in Yekaterinburg in connection with an unsolved criminal case involving the murder of Yunis Pashayev in 2001.

The Azerbaijani authorities publicly criticized Russia after the raid by Russian security forces in Yekaterinburg, which resulted in the deaths of several Azerbaijani nationals and the detention of dozens more.

On June 29, it became known that all cultural events planned by “Russian state and private institutions” in Azerbaijan had been canceled. In addition, the visit of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to Moscow was canceled.

The Kremlin responded to the scandal that erupted between Russia and Azerbaijan after more than 50 Azerbaijani nationals were detained in Yekaterinburg in connection with an unsolved criminal case involving the murder of Yunis Pashayev in 2001″

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the actions of law enforcement agencies should not serve as a justification for diplomatic protests. According to him, Russia is interested in continuing to “develop our beneficial relations with Azerbaijan.”