Sputnik Azerbaijan editor-in-chief released in Baku

Security forces have released Sputnik Azerbaijan editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov, who has flown to Moscow.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," amid the diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Baku, security forces in various Russian regions have raised concerns about ethnic Azerbaijanis, including those with Russian citizenship. Signs of easing tensions in relations between the two countries only appeared in October: the first meeting in a long time between Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev took place on October 9 in Dushanbe. On October 10, following the meeting, it was announced that Sputnik Azerbaijan executive director Igor Kartavykh and one of the Azerbaijanis arrested in Russia had been released. On October 19, Kartavykh flew to Russia.

Sputnik Azerbaijan Editor-in-Chief Yevgeny Belousov has flown out of Baku after his release from custody, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova reported.

"A second Sputnik correspondent, Belousov, has flown out of Baku after his release from custody," TASS quoted her as saying today.

 As a reminder, on June 28, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called on Russian authorities to investigate the deaths and injuries of Azerbaijanis who were injured on June 27 as a result of a special operation by security forces in Yekaterinburg. Experts in Baku named blunt force trauma to the death of brothers Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov, while the Russian side called the cause of death a heart attack. On June 30, Azerbaijani security forces searched the office of the Russian agency Sputnik Azerbaijan and detained two people, calling them agents of the Russian special services; they were arrested. Also on July 1, the court arrested eight Russian citizens detained on charges of drug trafficking and cybercrime. On July 7, a Baku court rejected appeals by lawyers for Sputnik journalists Igor Kartavykh and Yevgeny Belousov to change their pretrial detention measures.