Tit-for-tat arrests

Two Azerbaijani suspects died in Russian police custody, triggering reciprocal arrests and escalating tensions between Moscow and Baku

On June 27, state investigators in Yekaterinburg arrested dozens of Azerbaijani nationals, questioning suspects in a series of murders and attempted murders committed between 2001 and 2011. Two primary suspects, brothers Huseyin and Ziyaddin Safarov, died during their interrogations. In the wake of the two men’s deaths, Russian–Azerbaijani tensions spiraled, leading to reciprocal police raids in Baku and an intensifying diplomatic row. Meduza reviews how the current standoff unfolded.

The Safarov brothers and Sputnik-Azerbaijan

According to Russian officials, one of the Safarov brothers died of heart failure, and the other’s cause of death is still being determined. As of July 1, six of the detainees — Russian citizens of Azerbaijani origin — have been formally jailed. In court, at least one of these men showed signs of severe beatings.

In response, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Pyotr Volokhov and lodged a formal protest over the raids in Yekaterinburg. Azerbaijan also canceled all cultural events involving Russian state and private organizations — a decision the Kremlin has described as “regrettable.”

On June 30, acting on a search warrant, police raided the office of the Russian news agency Sputnik-Azerbaijan in Baku. Russian diplomats were unable to contact the agency’s staff for several hours. The next day, the Azerbaijani authorities filed felony charges of fraud, illegal entrepreneurship, and money laundering. Sputnik-Azerbaijan editor-in-chief Igor Kartavykh and chief editor Yevgeny Belousov were jailed for four months pending trial, while five other individuals will face criminal charges. Local media claim that the suspects are secret agents working for Russia’s Federal Security Service — allegations that Sputnik-Azerbaijan rejects as absurd.

While the Russian outlet defends its editors, it also braces for a formal inquiry by Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry into its continued financing and operations, following the loss of its media accreditation in February 2025.

A diplomatic row

Back in Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Azerbaijani Ambassador Rahman Mustafayev to condemn the raid and arrests at Sputnik-Azerbaijan’s office, formally protesting Baku’s “unfriendly actions” and “deliberate steps to dismantle bilateral relations.” Moscow also demanded the release of the Russian journalists. Similarly, the Kremlin expressed “hope” that the Sputnik-Azerbaijan employees would be released soon, and that “direct communication” would replace Baku’s “extremely emotional reaction.”

The next day, on July 1, Azerbaijan’s Health Ministry reported that the Safarov brothers died from severe injuries while in police custody in Yekaterinburg. The country’s chief prosecutor subsequently filed charges of torture and aggravated murder.

Later that day, a court in Baku jailed eight Russian nationals. The nation’s Interior Ministry has described the suspects as “members of two organized crime groups.” The men are charged with smuggling drugs from Iran and committing cybercrimes. In photographs from the courtroom, several of the suspects showed bruised and battered faces, including one with a bloody head wound.

Journalists at iStories identified three of the suspects as 41-year-old IT entrepreneur Anton Drachev, 30-year-old programmer Dmitry Bezugly from St. Petersburg, and 23-year-old programmer Sergey Sofronov from Cherepovets.

Escalating allegations

According to the Azerbaijani news agency APA, Russian federal investigators are now reviewing the Yekaterinburg police officers involved in the Safarov brothers’ interrogations, but there is no official corroboration of this information. Meanwhile, in the Russian state media, RIA Novosti reported that the Azerbaijani men arrested in Yekaterinburg on June 27 were involved in a mass poisoning in 2021 caused by counterfeit alcohol.

Further fanning the tensions between Moscow and Baku, the Azerbaijani news outlet Minval announced on July 1 that it had received an “anonymous letter with shocking information” about the December 2024 AZAL plane crash in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people. Sources familiar with Azerbaijan’s investigation into the crash told Reuters that preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian air defense system during a Ukrainian drone attack. Azerbaijan has demanded an official apology and compensation payments from Russia. Minval reported that the anonymous letter it received claims that air defenses fired on the AZAL plane on orders from Russia’s Defense Ministry.