Baku police detains alleged FSB operatives at Moscow-run propaganda outlet Sputnik Azerbaijan

Two Russian nationals, Igor Kartavykh, executive director of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Yevgeny Belousov, have been detained by Azerbaijani law enforcement in the country’s capital Baku, according to a report by local news outlet Minval.

Both men are accused of being “agents of the FSB,” Russia’s Federal Security Service.

Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry confirmed the arrests to the government-controlled outlet Report. The publication shared video footage of the men being led out of the building by masked police officers.

The Sputnik news agency said it was “trying to establish contact with the journalists who were unlawfully detained.” Russia's Foreign Ministry has summoned Azerbaijan's ambassador over what it described as Baku’s “unfriendly” actions, according to a report by another state-controlled media outlet, RIA Novosti.

Rossiya Segodnya CEO Margarita Simonyan said that staff members of the agency, including Russian citizens, are not responding to attempts to contact them and are “clearly being denied access to their phones.” The website and Telegram channel of Sputnik Azerbaijan stopped updating after 12:41 p.m. local time.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the Russian Embassy had informed Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, and State Security Service about the incident, but received no response.

On June 30, police raided the Baku office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local branch of the Russian state-controlled media group Rossiya Segodnya. Russian embassy staff later arrived at the scene but were reportedly denied entry by Azerbaijani law enforcement.

Azerbaijani authorities had ordered the closure of Sputnik Azerbaijan back in February, but local media reported that the agency continued to operate, with staff regularly coming to the office and receiving salaries.

The arrests follow a series of police raids on June 27 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, targeting members of the city’s Azerbaijani community as part of an investigation into contract killings from the early 2000s.

On June 30, Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) confirmed that six individuals — all Russian citizens — were detained as part of the raids. Two Azerbaijani nationals died during the arrests; one reportedly of heart failure, while the cause of death for the second is still under investigation.

Azerbaijani media identified the victims as brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov. Relatives said their bodies, which were reportedly returned to Azerbaijan, will undergo autopsies in Baku later this week.

Ilkin Amirov, an attorney for one of the Azerbaijanis who was arrested in Yekaterinburg, told reporters that the case involves ten individuals: six in custody, two deceased, and two currently hospitalized. He added that more people were initially detained, but some were released without charges.

All Russian cultural events in Azerbaijan have been cancelled in protest over the deaths, and Azerbaijan's Culture Ministry wrote on X that concerts, exhibitions, festivals and performances were being called off due to “unlawful and demonstrative acts carried out by Russian law enforcement agencies against Azerbaijani nationals [in Yekaterinburg] on the grounds of ethnic affiliation, including extrajudicial killings and acts of violence.”

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry demanded “an immediate investigation into the case and bringing those responsible for this unacceptable act of violence to justice as soon as possible.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian government “sincerely regrets” the decisions made by the Azerbaijani authorities:

“It is important to continue working to clarify the causes and nature of the events which, in the view of the Azerbaijani side, prompted these steps. We believe everything that has taken place is related to the work of [Russia’s] law enforcement agencies and should not serve as grounds for such a reaction.”

Tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan escalated this past December when Russian air defenses critically damaged an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane en route from Baku to Grozny. The aircraft crashed in western Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.

After the incident, Vladimir Putin issued a rare apology to Ilham Aliyev. However, Putin stopped short of admitting Russia’s guilt, saying that air defenses in Chechnya were responding to a Ukrainian drone strike occurring on the same day.

The Sputnik news agency, which operates across multiple languages, was created by Kremlin-controlled Rossiya Segodnya in 2014. On March 2, 2022, the EU banned its broadcasting (alongside fellow propaganda outlet RT) across all 27 member states, citing its efforts to spread “systematic disinformation” and its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Microsoft and Apple Inc. have removed the Sputnik and RT apps from their respective platforms. YouTube has also blocked access to both outlets globally.

On Sept. 13, 2023, Moldova deported Vitaly Denisov, the bureau chief of Sputnik Moldova, and barred him from reentering the country for 10 years, citing national security concerns. The Insider has reported on Denisov’s connections to Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), specifically the 72nd Special Service Center (Military Unit No. 54777).