Latest news with #DmitryKiselev
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
World War III brewing? After Israel-Iran clash, Russia and Azerbaijan face off over arrested journalists
Journalists Arrested in Baku After Police Raid Russia Reacts Live Events Russia Summons Azerbaijani Ambassador Ethnic Azerbaijanis Arrested in Russia FAQs (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel After Israel and Iran's conflict, now tension is escalating between Russia and Azerbaijan following the arrest of journalists in Baku, Azerbaijan, as per a report. These arrests happened after Russia arrested ethnic Azerbaijanis suspected of serious crimes, as reported by Monday, Azerbaijani authorities detained two senior journalists from Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local arm of Russia's state-owned RIA news agency, after raiding their offices in Baku. The country's Interior Ministry said that it had launched an investigation, and the police in Baku revealed that they investigated Sputnik Azerbaijan over illegal funding, reported after the raid, Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry released footage showing the two journalists, including the agency's chief editor, being led to police vans in handcuffs, according to the report. Another journalist from the Russian outlet Ruptly was also reportedly detained while trying to film the police action at the Sputnik offices in Baku, as reported by READ: Mexico slaps cruise passengers with new tourist tax, fee set to quadruple by 2027 Azerbaijan's government had already shuttered the outlet in February, but it has continued to operate with fewer staff, and General Director of Rossiya Segodnya, Dmitry Kiselev, said that Sputnik and Azerbaijani officials had been trying to work on a temporary agreement to let Sputnik continue operations in Baku, according to a Reuters wrote on the Telegram messaging app, that Russia was shocked at the actions of Azerbaijani security officials leading staff members away "with their arms twisted and their heads bowed, as though they were terrorists," adding, "This all looks like a deliberate step aimed at worsening relations between our countries," as quoted in the Reuters READ: Trump might deport Elon Musk to South Africa - President to use DOGE to investigate the Tesla CEO When the raid on Sputnik Azerbaijan was going on, Russia summoned Azerbaijan's ambassador to Moscow over what it described as Baku's "unfriendly actions" and the "illegal detention" of Russian journalists working in the country, as reported by comes as tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan, which was a former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus, had already started intensifying in recent days after investigators in Yekaterinburg, a Russian industrial city, arrested six people following a slew of raids in connection with historic unsolved crimes, including serial killings, as per the investigators said they had detained six people, all of whom had Russian passports, reported Reuters. They also revealed that two suspects had passed away, and said that one of the suspects died of heart failure, and medical tests would reveal the cause of death of another suspect, as reported by Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry has identified the people detained in Russia as ethnic Azerbaijanis, according to the report. Baku even accused the Russian police of carrying out extrajudicial killings "on ethnic grounds"; however, this allegation was rejected by Moscow, according to the READ: Iran bans Elon Musk's Starlink, users now face prison, fines, even flogging Azerbaijan says it is investigating Sputnik Azerbaijan for alleged illegal funding, while Russia claims the arrests were illegal, as per the Reuters senior editors from Sputnik Azerbaijan, including the chief editor, were detained during the raid in Baku, as per the Reuters report.
AsiaOne
a day ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Azerbaijan arrests journalists at Russian state outlet as tensions with Moscow rise, World News
BAKU/MOSCOW — Authorities in Azerbaijan arrested two journalists from the local branch of a Russian state news agency on Monday (June 30) in a move likely to further stoke tensions with Moscow following arrests in Russia of ethnic Azerbaijanis suspected of serious crimes. In a statement, Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry said it had launched an investigation into the outlet, Sputnik Azerbaijan, after raiding its offices earlier on Monday. Russia's RIA state news agency said two staff members — the head of the editorial board and the chief editor — had been detained. Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry published video showing officers leading two men to police vans in handcuffs. Another Russian media outlet, Ruptly, later said one of its editors had been detained after trying to film the police action at the Sputnik offices in Baku. Tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus, have risen in recent days after investigators in Yekaterinburg, a Russian industrial city, arrested six people following a slew of raids in connection with historic unsolved crimes, including serial killings. They said they had detained six people, all of whom had Russian passports, but they also said two suspects had died. Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry identified the people as ethnic Azerbaijanis. One of the suspects died of heart failure, Russian investigators said in a statement, and medical tests would reveal the cause of death of another suspect. The bodies of the suspects are expected to arrive in Baku by plane on Monday evening for expert examination. Baku has accused the Russian police of carrying out extrajudicial killings "on ethnic grounds", an allegation Moscow has rejected. Earlier on Monday, as the raid on Sputnik Azerbaijan was under way, Russia summoned Azerbaijan's ambassador to Moscow over what it described as Baku's "unfriendly actions" and the "illegal detention" of Russian journalists working in the country. Police in Baku said they would investigate Sputnik Azerbaijan over illegal funding. Journalists led away 'like terrorists' In February, the government shuttered the outlet, which is an affiliate of Russian state media agency Rossiya Segodnya, but it has continued to operate with fewer staff. The General Director of Rossiya Segodnya, Dmitry Kiselev, said Sputnik and Azerbaijani officials had been trying to clinch a temporary agreement allowing Sputnik to keep working in Baku. Russia, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app, was shocked at the actions of Azerbaijani security officials leading staff members away "with their arms twisted and their heads bowed, as though they were terrorists". "This all looks like a deliberate step aimed at worsening relations between our countries," he wrote. Azerbaijan's parliament has pulled out of planned bilateral talks in Moscow amid the recent controversy and cancelled a visit by a Russian deputy prime minister. On Sunday, Azerbaijan's Cultural Ministry said it was also cancelling cultural events planned by Russian state and private organisations due to "targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence committed by Russian law enforcement agencies." Asked about the Culture Ministry's decision, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday: "We sincerely regret such decisions." "We believe that everything that's happening (in Yekaterinburg) is related to the work of law enforcement agencies, and this cannot and should not be a reason for such a reaction," Peskov told reporters. [[nid:714283]]
Russia Today
a day ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Azerbaijani ambassador summoned by Moscow
Russia's Foreign Ministry has summoned Azerbaijani ambassador Rakhman Mustafaev, following the arrest of three Russian journalists in Baku. Two senior editors with Sputnik media and one with the Ruptly video news agency were detained by Azerbaijani authorities on Monday. Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan have soured in recent days, in the wake of a police raid in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, targeting the local Azerbaijani diaspora. Speaking to reporters following the arrests, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that 'in light of Baku's hostile actions and the unlawful detention of Russian journalists… the ambassador of the Azerbaijani Republic has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry.' Zakharova expressed concern over the fact that Russian diplomats 'have not been able to contact the [detained] journalists [who are] Russian citizens.' Dmitry Kiselev, the head of 'Rossiya Segodnya' (Russia Today) media group, which Sputnik belongs to, described the arrest of the Russian reporters in Baku as an 'injustice.' 'There have been no objections to the journalistic work of Sputnik Azerbaijan,' he insisted, adding that Russian and Azerbaijani officials agreed to iron out 'formalities' of the Russian media outlet's operations during a meeting in Moscow in early April. However, Baku has allegedly stalled the process. Kiselev expressed incredulity at the way the Russian reporters were treated by the Azerbaijani police, 'as though they were terrorists.' He noted that the treatment of reporters is in stark contrast to the nature of relations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. Earlier on Monday, Sputnik confirmed that the head of the editorial office Igor Kartavykh and Editor-in-Chief Evgeny Belousov had been detained by police in Baku. Both were accused of being agents of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) – a claim the Russian media outlet has dismissed as 'absurd.' Later in the day, it transpired that a third Russian journalist, working for the Ruptly video news agency, had also been placed in police custody in Baku. Last week, Russian police carried out a raid on suspected members of an Azerbaijani criminal group in the city of Yekaterinburg in central Russia, arresting a number of individuals. Two of the suspects died during the operation, according to Russia's Investigative Committee, one from a heart attack, the other from an as yet unidentified cause. According to the Russian authorities, the group is suspected of having been behind several murders dating as far back as the early 2000's.
