Moscow summons Azerbaijani ambassador over detention of Russian journalists

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia, Rahman Mustafayev, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry in response to what Moscow described as “unfriendly actions of Baku,” specifically citing the recent alleged "unlawful" detention of Russian journalists, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.

The summons follows a police operation conducted at the Baku office of Sputnik-Azerbaijan, the local branch of the Russian state news agency Russia Today, during which several individuals were taken into custody, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

According to the report, two employees affiliated with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), who were working at the agency, were detained during the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry’s intervention.

In February 2025, Caliber.Az obtained exclusive information revealing Azerbaijan’s decision to rebalance the presence of foreign media outlets operating within the country. This initiative specifically targeted the operations of Sputnik Azerbaijan, a branch of the Russian MIA "Russia Today" (RT), and the BBC’s Azerbaijani service.

To address a disparity in media representation between Azerbaijan and Russia, the Azerbaijani government mandated that the number of Russian state media correspondents working in Azerbaijan be equal to the number of Azerbaijani state media correspondents operating in Russia. Currently, this translates to just one correspondent each.

Sputnik Azerbaijan, which employed approximately 40 staff members in Baku, was ordered to close its branch. RT’s activities in Azerbaijan were to be limited to a single correspondent operating under Azerbaijani law and the bilateral agreement on media correspondents signed in 2001.

Despite these earlier restrictions, recent reports indicate that Sputnik Azerbaijan continued some level of operation, prompting the authorities to conduct a special police operation and take control of the agency’s Baku office.

By Vafa Guliyeva