Azerbaijan jails Sputnik executives amid escalating tensions with Russia

The executive head and editor-in-chief of Russia's state-run news agency Sputnik successful Azerbaijan person been sentenced to 4 months successful situation connected Tuesday, pursuing a Baku constabulary ambush of nan Russian authorities media connection nan time before, successful what appears to beryllium a fast-moving escalation betwixt nan 2 countries.

According to Azerbaijan’s authorities, they person been recovered blameworthy of fraud, forbidden entrepreneurship and legalisation of spot obtained by criminal means, Baku-based world news transmission AnewZ reported.

Azeri APA agency reported earlier that 2 labor of nan Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) were among 7 group detained aft nan ambush connected nan offices of Sputnik Azerbaijan, owned by Rossiya Segodnya, which is successful move owned and operated by nan Russian government.

Another Russian state-run media outlet, Ruptly, later reported that 1 of its editors had been detained aft attempting to movie nan constabulary action astatine nan Sputnik offices successful Baku.

Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry published a video showing officers starring 2 men to constabulary vans successful handcuffs.

The tensions betwixt Azerbaijan and Russia escalated complete nan past fewer days pursuing nan detention of complete 50 Azerbaijanis successful Yekaterinburg successful raids by nan Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) past Friday.

Two group — brothers Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov — died during nan raids, and 3 others were earnestly injured. Russia claimed that nan arrests were portion of a execution investigation from nan early 2000s.  

Azerbaijan-based broadcaster AnewZ said nan news of deadly raids sparked outrage and calls for justness amid what Azerbaijanis allege arsenic maltreatment and taste profiling.

Some detainees person alleged that confessions were obtained done force, threats, and coercion, including unit connected family members.

Forensic experts person revealed that nan Azerbaijani citizens killed during nan Russian raids successful Yekaterinburg died from blunt unit trauma, not gunshot wounds, raising further questions astir nan circumstances of nan deaths.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry condemned nan cognition arsenic “brutal and unjustified” and called connected nan Russian authorities to “conduct an urgent investigation into nan matter and bring nan perpetrators of this unacceptable unit to justness arsenic soon arsenic possible,” according to AnewZ.

In addition, Azerbaijan summoned Russia’s envoy to Baku to protestation against nan deadly raids and besides cancelled each taste events planned by nan Russian authorities and backstage institutions successful protestation against nan ambush connected Russia’s state-run Sputnik agency offices. 

"In consequence to targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of unit against Azerbaijanis based connected their ethnicity, dem onstratively perpetrated by Russian rule enforcement agencies successful nan Yekaterinburg region of nan Russian Federation – and considering nan systematic quality of specified incidents successful caller times – each taste events planned successful Azerbaijan involving Russian authorities and backstage entities person been cancelled," Azerbaijan’s ministry of Culture said successful a statement.

Russia’s state-run agency successful Azerbaijan

In February, nan Azerbaijani authorities unopen down Russia's state-funded news agency, Sputnik, but it has continued to operate, albeit pinch reduced staff.

Although nan agency’s legalization was officially revoked successful February, nan Azerbaijan Interior Ministry stated that its information indicated Sputnik Azerbaijan allegedly continued its activities utilizing forbidden backing sources.

The head of Sputnik's genitor institution Rossiya Segodnya, Dmitry Kiselev — 1 of nan astir salient Russian propagandists, who regularly makes unfastened calls to destruct Ukraine and onslaught Europe pinch Russian missiles — said Sputnik and Azerbaijani officials had been trying to find a impermanent statement allowing it to support moving successful Baku.

Sputnik, Ruptly, and different affiliates of Rossiya Segodnya are wide regarded arsenic devices for spreading nan Kremlin's propaganda extracurricular of Russia. 

Kiselev expressed his disconnect complete nan Monday arrests connected Telegram, calling it a “deliberate measurement aimed astatine worsening relations betwixt nan countries”.

Azerbaijan's parliament has pulled retired of planned bilateral talks successful Moscow amid nan caller escalation and cancelled a sojourn by a Russian lawman premier minister.

Russian authorities denounced nan state-run Sputnik agency ambush and detention arsenic "unfriendly acts by Baku and nan forbidden apprehension of Russian journalists." 

In further developments connected Tuesday, Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry announced that it dismantled 2 criminal groups successful Baku, detaining Russian nationals suspected of trafficking narcotics from Iran and conducting cyber fraud operations.

Relations betwixt Moscow and Baku cooled aft an Azerbaijani airliner collapsed successful Kazakhstan successful December, sidesplitting 38 of 67 group aboard. 

As exclusively reported by Euronews, investigations into nan incident revealed that nan Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was changeable astatine by Russian aerial defence complete Russia's Grozny and rendered uncontrollable by physics warfare. 

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia of trying to "hush up" nan incident for respective days. Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to Aliyev for what he called a "tragic incident" but stopped short of acknowledging responsibility.

In May, Aliyev decided not to be Russia’s 80th Victory Day celebrations.