Azerbaijan police raid Russia’s Sputnik media offices

Police in Baku raided the offices of Russia’s state-funded news agency Sputnik on Monday, local media reported.

The swoop came as tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia escalated after the deaths of two ethnic Azerbaijanis in a police raid last week in Yekaterinburg.

What do we know about the raids on Sputnik?

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said Sputnik continued to operate in the country through “illegal financing” despite its accreditation being revoked in February 2025.

Authorities said arrests were made during the search, but did not provide further details. Images published by local outlets showed two men being led away by masked officers.

According to Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti, the detainees included Sputnik Azerbaijan’s editor-in-chief, Yevgeny Belousov, and its director, Igor Kartavykh.

Russian authorities denounced the move as “unfriendly acts by Baku and the illegal arrest of Russian journalists.”

Sputnik, a multilingual radio and news portal, is widely viewed as a tool for spreading Kremlin propaganda abroad.

Why are Russia and Azerbaijan at odds?

Tensions between Moscow and Baku have been simmering for months. Relations worsened after the downing of an Azerbaijani passenger plane over Grozny in late 2024, an incident that forced Russian President Vladimir Putin to apologise to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The latest flare-up follows a wave of arrests of ethnic Azerbaijanis in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg over the weekend. Russian authorities detained about 50 people suspected of involvement in contract killings between 2001 and 2011.

At least two people died during the arrests — one reportedly from heart failure. Baku condemned the actions as “unacceptable” and summoned the Russian ambassador in response.

Azerbaijan’s culture ministry on Sunday cancelled all Russian cultural events, citing “systematic acts of violence” by Russian security forces against Azerbaijanis.