Police in Azerbaijan’s capital raided the local office of Russia’s state media outlet Sputnik, detaining two suspected Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents. The operation highlights escalating tensions between Baku and Moscow following a deadly Russian police raid on ethnic Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg.

Police detain FSB agents during raid

On 30 June 2025, Azerbaijani police conducted an operation at the Baku office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, a local branch of the Russian state agency Russia Today. APA reports that two Russian FSB agents working at the agency were detained during the raid. Qafqazinfo confirmed that law enforcement placed the office under control, and Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs verified the operation, promising further information.

The Ministry said that despite its accreditation being revoked in February 2025. According to APA, The decision aimed to ensure parity between Azerbaijani state media operating abroad and foreign journalists working in the country. In other words, the number of Sputnik Azerbaijan journalists in Baku was to be equal to that of AZERTAC journalists in Russia. However, Sputnik Azerbaijan did not comply with the decision and continued its activities throughout the period through “illegal financing,” according to WP. Local staff reportedly never ceased their activities even after the suspension was announced earlier this year.

Moscow responds angrily to arrests

According to RIA Novosti, the two detained individuals were Sputnik Azerbaijan’s editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov and director Igor Kartavykh. In reaction to the arrests, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Azerbaijani Ambassador Rahman Mustafayev and protested what it claimed to be the “illegal detention of Russian journalists,” Interfax reports.

The raid came shortly after Russia’s own crackdown on ethnic Azerbaijanis inside its territory. On 27 June, Russian police in Yekaterinburg detained nine Azerbaijani citizens accused of murders dating back to the early 2000s. During the operation, two Azerbaijani brothers, Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, were killed, and several others were seriously injured.

Media war signals deeper breakdown in ties

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that Azerbaijan’s ongoing restrictions on Russian state media and cultural events “would likely further deteriorate bilateral relations and undermine Russia’s influence in the south Caucasus, particularly as the Kremlin uses its media presence and cultural soft power abroad to further its objectives in the former Soviet space.”