Azerbaijani police raid office of Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik in Baku
Police in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku have raided the local
office of the Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local outlet Vesti.Az
reported on June 30.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that investigative actions
were underway at the office. According to Qafqazinfo,
police took control of the premises.
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the RT media group
and a key figure in Russian state propaganda, said staff from the Russian
Embassy in Baku had been dispatched to the scene. She claimed Sputnik employees
were unreachable and likely did not have access to their phones. Some of them,
Simonyan said, are Russian citizens.
Sputnik Azerbaijan officially suspended operations in
February 2025. However, the outlet continued functioning, with employees still
regularly present at the office.
Earlier, Azerbaijani authorities canceled all Russian
cultural events in the country, regardless of whether they were organized by
state or private institutions.
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture said the decision
stemmed from “deliberate and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence
committed by Russian law enforcement against Azerbaijanis on ethnic grounds in
Sverdlovsk Oblast of the Russian Federation,” adding that such incidents had
become systematic in recent months.
On June 28, Russian media reported that on June 27, Russian
law enforcement detained more than 50 people originally from Azerbaijan. Some
were released after questioning. The detentions were linked to an investigation
into the 2001 murder of a merchant. Media outlets said two suspects had died.
On June 29, Russian authorities announced that charges had
been filed against the detainees, accusing them of murders and attempted
murders committed in 2001, 2010, and 2011.
That same day, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry summoned
Russia’s chargé d’affaires in Baku, Petr Volkov.
The ministry said it expects Moscow to conduct a full
investigation into the incident and swiftly hold those responsible to account.
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