Azerbaijan arrested two Russian journalists Monday and suspended diplomatic talks with Moscow after two ethnic Azerbaijani brothers died during violent police raids in Russia, marking the worst crisis between the countries in decades.
The arrests at Sputnik Azerbaijan’s offices came days after Ziyaddin Safarov and Gusein Safarov died Friday while Russian police detained suspects in a 24-year-old murder case in Yekaterinburg. One brother reportedly died of “heart failure” while the other’s cause of death remains under investigation, Russian prosecutors said.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry accused Russian officers of using “unacceptable violence” and conducting “extrajudicial killings on ethnic grounds.” Family member Mohammed Safarov told MediaAzNews that masked officers broke down doors at dawn and “kept beating us for an hour without asking anything.”
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In response, Azerbaijan’s parliament canceled planned bilateral talks in Moscow and blocked a visit by a Russian deputy prime minister. The country also suspended Russian cultural events and launched an investigation into Sputnik Azerbaijan for “illegal funding.”
“This all looks like a deliberate step aimed at worsening relations between our countries,” said Dmitry Kiselev, director of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik’s parent company.
The diplomatic crisis builds on mounting tensions since December’s Azerbaijan Airlines crash that killed 38 people. The plane appeared to come under fire from Russian air defense systems before crashing in Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan continues demanding that Russia formally accept responsibility and pay compensation.
Read: Azerbaijan Plane Crash Linked to Russian Air Defense
Relations have also deteriorated over Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian refineries processing Azerbaijani oil, which analysts view as economic retaliation for Azerbaijan’s alleged support of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Moscow “sincerely regrets” Azerbaijan’s decisions but insisted the Yekaterinburg events were “related to the work of law enforcement agencies.”
The crisis threatens Russia’s traditional influence in the strategic South Caucasus region, where Azerbaijan has increasingly aligned with Turkey. During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Turkish military aid helped Azerbaijan reclaim territories from Armenian control.
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