Russia Summons Azerbaijani Ambassador Over Detention of Sputnik Journalists

Maria Zakharova. X/ @ENippur
June 30, 2025 Hour: 12:42 pm
Authorities offered no immediate explanation for the detention of Igor Kartavykh and Yevgeny Belousov.
On Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed that Azerbaijani Ambassador to Moscow Rakhman Mustafayev was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to protest the detention of two Sputnik journalists in Azerbaijan.
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“The ambassador of Azerbaijan was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in connection with Baku’s hostile actions and the illegal detention of Russian journalists, against whom Azerbaijani authorities had not made any complaints over all these years,” Zakharova said.
“For more than two hours, Russian diplomats in Baku have had no contact with the Sputnik journalists,” she added, referring to the detention of Igor Kartavykh, the head of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and Yevgeny Belousov, the outlet’s editor-in-chief.
Zakharova also said Azerbaijani authorities had not allowed Russian consular staff access to the journalists and had provided no explanation for the denial.
She noted that Sputnik’s operations have not been officially banned in Azerbaijan and that working groups from both countries’ foreign ministries had previously maintained constructive dialogue to resolve potential disagreements.
Azerbaijani media outlets including Minval, Vesti.az and APA reported that two alleged agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had been detained amid a new escalation of tensions between the two countries. According to those outlets, the detainees were undercover agents, though Azerbaijani authorities have yet to issue an official statement.
Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry only confirmed that some “detentions” had taken place related to Sputnik, accusing the outlet of operating without proper authorization in the Caucasus country.
“The agency’s accreditation was suspended in February 2025. However, operational information indicated that it continued functioning through illegal funding. There are detainees,” Azerbaijani authorities said.
Earlier in the day, Russia expressed regret over Azerbaijan’s decision to cancel Russian cultural events in its territory following a police operation in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in which two members of the Azerbaijani diaspora were killed.
According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, six Russian citizens of Azerbaijani origin were detained in Yekaterinburg in connection with a murder-for-hire investigation. “One of the detainees died of heart failure, and the cause of death for another is under investigation,” Zakharova said.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE