The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan conducted a large-scale special operation at the office of the Sputnik agency - the Baku branch of the Russian Federation's international news agency "Russia Today".
Points of attention
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan conducted a special operation at the office of the Russian propaganda agency Sputnik, leading to the detention of several individuals, including Russian FSB employees.
- The suspension of Sputnik's operations in Azerbaijan in February 2025 was due to the government's decision to ensure parity with Azerbaijani state media abroad, highlighting the issue of compliance with regulations by foreign media agencies.
Azerbaijan investigates activities of Russian propaganda agency Sputnik
Several people were detained during the operation, including two employees of the Federal Security Service of Russia who worked in that agency.
According to the publication, the operation began in the morning and continues under the strict control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The main goal is to investigate the activities of the agency, which was officially supposed to cease operations in February 2025 due to a decision by the Azerbaijani authorities.
In February of this year, the Azerbaijani government decided to suspend the activities of Sputnik as a branch of the Russian agency Rossiya Segodnya.
This decision was motivated by the need to ensure parity in work between Azerbaijani state media abroad and foreign journalists working in the country.
In particular, the number of Sputnik Azerbaijan journalists in Baku was to correspond to the number of employees of the Azerbaijani agency AZERTAC in Russia.
However, the editorial staff and staff of "Sputnik" did not comply with these requirements and continued to work, which became the basis for conducting a law enforcement operation.
The investigation is currently ongoing, with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs investigating the circumstances of the agency's activities and the detainees' cooperation with foreign intelligence services.
We will remind you that in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, police searched the office of the Russian propaganda agency "Sputnik-Azerbaijan".
This happened after raids by Russian security forces in Yekaterinburg, where several Azerbaijanis were killed and dozens more were detained.
It is known that Sputnik-Azerbaijan is part of the state-owned Russian media holding Rossiya Segodnya, which is subordinate to the Kremlin.
