The arrest of eight Russians in Baku has been extended for three months.

A Baku court has extended the detention of eight Russian citizens accused of drug trafficking and cybercrime for another three months. One of them complained about the lack of effective medical care.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, on July 1, a Baku court arrested eight Russian citizens detained on charges of drug trafficking and cybercrime. Moscow hopes that Baku will abandon its excessive and unfair harshness towards the detained Russians, said Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova. On July 16, it became known that relatives of some of the Russians arrested in Baku were able to see them, and the Russian consul called their conditions of detention good.

The court's decision to extend the arrest of eight Russians for three months was made on October 24, Elchin Sadygov, lawyer representing Dmitry Fedorov, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today.

According to his defense, Fedorov does not plead guilty. He developed health problems in the pretrial detention facility. "Although Dmitry Fedorov underwent surgery at a Penitentiary Service medical facility, he is not receiving adequate medical care there, nor is he receiving the necessary medications. "Today, I arrived at the Ministry of Justice's Main Medical Department following the information I received from Fedorov's parents, but they didn't accept me," Sadygov said.

The information about the extension of the Russians' detention was also confirmed by lawyer Javad Javadov, who represents Alexey Vasilchenko. According to the lawyer, Vasilchenko also pleads not guilty.

Alexey Vasilchenko, a native of Norilsk, worked in the IT sector in Baku. Javadov noted that Vasilchenko has no complaints about his treatment, but due to the absence of relatives in Azerbaijan, he is not receiving care packages, and overall, being arrested in another country has a depressing effect on the young man.

"Alexei and his parents very much hope that resolving tensions in bilateral relations will have a positive impact on the fate of the Russians arrested in Baku and that they will be released," Javadov said, also expressing hope for the release of Azerbaijanis arrested in Russia following the deterioration of bilateral relations.

Relations between Moscow and Baku have noticeably worsened since the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024, en route from Baku to Grozny. More details can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Baku-Grozny Flight Crash" and in the article "Geopolitical Confrontation: What the AZAL Plane Crash Led to." Ethnic raids in Russia and retaliatory detentions of Russians in Azerbaijan have become the latest step in the deterioration of relations between the two countries. Baku accuses Russian authorities of extrajudicial reprisals against Azerbaijanis, and footage of the brutal detention of Russians in Baku appears to be a demonstrative response to Moscow's actions, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Crisis in Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia".

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, and on October 10, after the meeting, it became known 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. On October 25, the agency's editor-in-chief, Evgeny Belousov, arrived in Moscow, and on the same day, Yusif Khalilov, an entrepreneur from Voronezh and one of the leaders of the local diaspora, who was arrested in the Russian Federation in a bribery case, arrived in Baku.