Russian state-funded propaganda media outlet Sputnik will cease operations in Azerbaijan, Russia Today media group CEO Dmitry Kiselyov said on July 3, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti."We regret to say that, as of today, the conditions for Sputnik Azerbaijan to continue its activities in this country are not in place," Kiselyov said.The move comes amid a major deterioration in Russian-Azerbaijani relations.Kiselyov's comments followed the detention of several Sputnik Azerba
Russian state-funded propaganda media outlet Sputnik will cease operations in Azerbaijan, Russia Today media group CEO Dmitry Kiselyov said on July 3, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
"We regret to say that, as of today, the conditions for Sputnik Azerbaijan to continue its activities in this country are not in place," Kiselyov said.
The move comes amid a major deterioration in Russian-Azerbaijani relations.
Kiselyov's comments followed the detention of several Sputnik Azerbaijan employees by Azerbaijani police on June 30. Authorities said two of the detainees were operatives of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), prompting a formal protest from Moscow.
Kiselyov called the charges "far-fetched," saying the staff had worked to "develop cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia." He added that legal action would be taken to defend them.
Sputnik, a key pillar of the Kremlin's global propaganda network, has long been accused by Western governments and media watchdogs of spreading disinformation and pro-Russian narratives.
These developments follow a deadly June 27 operation in Russia's Yekaterinburg, where Russian security forces killed two Azerbaijani nationals and injured several others in a raid linked to a 2001 murder case.
On June 28, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry issued a rare public rebuke, calling the operation "ethnically motivated" and part of a "systematic pattern" of unlawful treatment of Azerbaijani nationals in Russia.
The diplomatic rupture deepened further after Azerbaijani authorities arrested eight Russian citizens the next day, presenting them in court handcuffed and visibly injured. They were accused of participating in organized crime, cyberattacks, and drug smuggling from Iran.
The closure of Sputnik's bureau marks a new low in relations between the two former Soviet states, which have seen escalating tensions despite longstanding ties.
Armenian authorities should "seriously" consider banning the broadcast of Russian television channels in Armenia, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said on July 1, citing concerns over interference and deteriorating ties."We must very seriously discuss the suspension of the Russian television channel broadcast in the territory of Armenia," Simonyan told reporters, according to Armenpress. He criticized recent content aired by Russian state broadcasters, which the Armenian government has
Armenian authorities should "seriously" consider banning the broadcast of Russian television channels in Armenia, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said on July 1, citing concerns over interference and deteriorating ties.
"We must very seriously discuss the suspension of the Russian television channel broadcast in the territory of Armenia," Simonyan told reporters, according to Armenpress. He criticized recent content aired by Russian state broadcasters, which the Armenian government has denounced as harmful to bilateral ties.
The remarks come as Armenia continues to pivot away from Moscow's sphere of influence and seeks to bolster ties with the West.
Simonyan suggested that individuals connected to Armenian-Russian oligarch Samvel Karapetyan may be financing efforts to meddle in Armenia's internal matters.
"If there are channels that allow themselves to interfere in Armenia’s domestic affairs, perhaps we ought to respond likewise, by at least banning their entry into the homes of our society," he said.
Tensions between Armenia and Russia have mounted since Moscow's failure to intervene during Azerbaijan's military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, which resulted in the mass displacement of ethnic Armenians.
In April, Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan signed a law initiating the country's formal accession process to the European Union.
Though symbolic, the legislation marks a significant political shift, embedding European integration into Armenian law. The bill, passed by parliament in March, was backed by 64 lawmakers and opposed by seven.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that EU membership would require a referendum, while the Kremlin warned that joining both the EU and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is "simply impossible." The EAEU, established in 2015, includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.
Editor's note: The story was updated after the Sputnik news agency disclosed the names of those detained in Baku.Azerbaijani police detained two alleged agents of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on June 30 following searches at the Baku office of the Russian state-controlled news agency Sputnik, the Azerbaijani news outlet Apa.az reported.Sputnik later elaborated that Igor Kartavykh, chief editor of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and Yevgeniy Belousov, managing editor, had been detained in Baku. Th
Editor's note: The story was updated after the Sputnik news agency disclosed the names of those detained in Baku.
Azerbaijani police detained two alleged agents of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on June 30 following searches at the Baku office of the Russian state-controlled news agency Sputnik, the Azerbaijani news outlet Apa.az reported.
Sputnik later elaborated that Igor Kartavykh, chief editor of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and Yevgeniy Belousov, managing editor, had been detained in Baku. The agency called the allegations that the detainees were FSB agents "absurd."
The move comes amid a major deterioration in Russian-Azerbaijani relations that followed the detention of over 50 Azerbaijanis as part of a murder investigation in Yekaterinburg on June 27. Two people died during the detentions, and three others were seriously injured.
The searches in the office of the Russian propaganda media outlet, which operates as a local branch of Russian state news agency Russia Today (RT), began on June 30.
The Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today, said that representatives of the Russian embassy in Baku were on their way to Sputnik's office. Sputnik employees were offline and probably did not have access to phones, she added.
According to Simonyan, some of Sputnik's employees were Russian citizens.
The Azerbaijani government ordered in February that the activities of Sputnik's Azerbaijani office be suspended.
The authorities said that the move was intended to ensure parity in the activities of Azerbaijan's state media abroad and foreign journalists in the country. This meant that the number of Sputnik Azerbaijan journalists working in Baku was to be equal to the number of journalists of the Azerbaijani news agency Azertadzh in Russia.
As a result, Sputnik Azerbaijan had to reduce its staff from 40 people to one but refused to do so and continued to operate despite the Azerbaijani government's decision, according to Apa.az.
As the Russian-Azerbaijani relations deteriorate, Azerbaijan has cancelled all planned cultural events hosted alongside Russian state and private organizations, the country's Culture Ministry announced on June 29.
The announcement followed the deaths of two Azerbaijani citizens during police raids in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said on June 28 that Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov had died during a raid carried out by Russian authorities. Azerbaijan called the killings "ethnically motivated" and "unlawful" actions.
Baku called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and said it expected Moscow to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident.
In the meantime, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the detentions were carried out as part of an investigation into serious crimes. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed that these were cases related to murders committed in 2001, 2010, and 2011.
Editor's Note: This story was updated with comments from Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.Russian President Vladimir Putin said "all of Ukraine" belonged to Russia in a speech on June 20 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, amid increasingly aggressive official statements about Moscow's final territorial ambitions in Ukraine.Putin's claim was based on the false narrative often pushed both by himself as leader and by Russian propaganda that Russians and Ukrainians are "one people."Th
Editor's Note: This story was updated with comments from Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said "all of Ukraine" belonged to Russia in a speech on June 20 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, amid increasingly aggressive official statements about Moscow's final territorial ambitions in Ukraine.
Putin's claim was based on the false narrative often pushed both by himself as leader and by Russian propaganda that Russians and Ukrainians are "one people."
The narrative has long figured prominently in Putin's rhetoric, often brought up as justification for its aggression in Ukraine.
In July 2021, just half a year before the full-scale invasion, the Russian leader stoked fears of a larger attack when he wrote and published an essay on the "historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians."
In response to the speech in St Petersburg, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned Putin’s comments as "cynical," saying it showed “complete disregard for U.S. peace efforts."
"While the United States and the rest of the world have called for an immediate end to the killing, Russia's top war criminal discusses plans to seize more Ukrainian territory and kill more Ukrainians," he wrote in a post on X.
Putin made several other statements at the forum, some contradictory, about Moscow's aims in the war going forward.
"Wherever the foot of a Russian soldier steps is Russian land," Putin said, directly implying Russia's intention to continue occupying more than just the five Ukrainian regions that Moscow has illegally laid claim to: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, as well as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Sybiha said that "Russian soldier's foot" brings only "death, destruction, and devastation." He accused Putin of indifference toward his own troops, calling him “a mass murderer of his own people.”
"He already disposed one million Russian soldiers in a senseless bloodbath in Ukraine without achieving a single strategic goal. One million soldiers. Two million feet," the minister said.
"And, while Putin is busy sending Russian feet to invade other countries, he is bringing Russians inside the country to their knees economically."
As per the "peace memorandum" presented by the Russian delegation at the last round of peace talks in Istanbul on June 2, Moscow demands Kyiv recognize the oblasts as Russian and hand over all territory not yet controlled by Russian forces into occupation, including the regional capitals of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Asked whether Russia aimed to seize the regional center of Sumy in Ukraine's northeast, Putin said that while such a mission has not been assigned, he wouldn't rule it out.
Russian ground attacks into Sumy Oblast have intensified along the northeastern border in the past weeks, having first crossed the border after Ukraine's withdrawal from most of its positions in Kursk Oblast in March.
Russian troops have moved 10-12 kilometers (6-8 miles) deep into the region, according to Putin.
"The city of Sumy is next, the regional center. We don't have a task to take Sumy, but I don't rule it out," Putin said.
Sybiha urged the West to ramp up military aid to Ukraine, tighten sanctions against Russia, designate Moscow a terrorist state, and "isolate it fully."
"His cynical statements serve only one purpose: to divert public attention away from the complete failure of his quarter-century rule," the minister added.
Since March, Russia has reportedly taken control of about 200 square kilometers (80 square miles) in northern Sumy Oblast, including roughly a dozen small villages, according to open-source conflict mapping projects.
As of May 31, mandatory evacuations had been ordered for 213 settlements.
In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to create a so-called "security buffer zone" along the border with Ukraine, while Zelensky said on May 28 that Moscow had massed 50,000 troops near Sumy.
In a separate interview with Bild on June 12, Zelensky dismissed Moscow's claims of significant territorial gains as "a Russian narrative" aimed at shaping global perceptions. He stressed that Ukrainian forces have managed to hold off a renewed offensive for nearly three weeks.
When asked if Moscow requires the complete capitulation of Kyiv and the Ukrainian leadership, Putin denied this, saying that Russia instead demands the "recognition of the realities on the ground."
The statement follows a consistent line from Russian officials since the return of U.S. President Donald Trump brought new momentum to the idea of a quick negotiated peace in Ukraine.
Projecting a winning position on the battlefield and gaining confidence from Trump's frequent anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and refusal to approve further military aid to Kyiv, Moscow has stuck to maximalist demands, refusing the joint U.S.-Ukraine proposal of a 30-day unconditional ceasefire along the front line.
On June 18, in an interview to CNN, Russian ambassador to the U.K. Andrei Kelin said that while Russian forces were advancing on the battlefield and taking more Ukrainian, there was no incentive to stop, and that Kyiv must either accept Moscow's peace terms now or "surrender" after losing much more.
Connexion
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy
