Azerbaijan Accuses Russia of Having Spies in Its Country

The Azerbaijan Press Council has appealed to the international community, stating that certain Russian media outlets are operating as spies in Azerbaijan.

“In recent years, the Russian Federation has increasingly utilized media as a tool for foreign policy influence. Under the guise of information activities, large-scale campaigns are being carried out aimed at shaping public opinion and destabilizing the political situation in sovereign states. Such actions, being interventions in the internal affairs of other countries, disrupt the functioning of local state institutions and diminish the level of trust in authorities. This practice is especially evident in the operations of the Russian ‘Sputnik’ agency and its staff.

In response to an open letter from the Union of Journalists of Russia addressed to international organizations, journalism associations, and human rights protection associations, in which they expressed concern over the arrest of staff members of ‘Sputnik Azerbaijan,’ we find it necessary to present an objective picture of events to the international community.

First of all, the letter grossly distorts the facts, which clearly indicates an attempt to manipulate international public opinion. The detention of Igor Kartavikh, director of ‘Sputnik Azerbaijan,’ and chief editor Yevgeny Belousov is in no way related to the performance of their professional journalistic duties, contrary to the claims made in the open letter. It is particularly important to emphasize that these individuals collaborated with the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation and were in Azerbaijan to carry out tasks unrelated to journalistic activities. In this regard, their arrest is a legal measure fully consistent with current legislation.

It is profoundly surprising that the Union of Journalists of Russia chooses to address the issue in defense of suspected spies rather than to genuinely engage with serious matters of journalist persecution and restrictions on freedom of speech. Numerous cases of the arrest of representatives of independent media and systemic pressure on them are at the periphery of public and political discourse.

Thus, high-profile cases of murders of notable journalists such as Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Pavel Sheremet, Pavel Khlebnikov, and many others remain unsolved due to political motivations.

Since the beginning of Russia's military campaign against Ukraine, media censorship has significantly increased, any alternative views are actively suppressed, and journalists attempting to express their opinions are pursued and arrested. Independently of the above, the Union of Journalists of Russia prefers to express itself in defense of suspected spies without demonstrating the same tenacity in protecting independent journalists who are at real risk in their own country.

In the context of the detention of staff members of ‘Sputnik Azerbaijan,’ a unit of the Federal Security Service of Russia, international journalistic and human rights organizations should primarily consider the alleged links between the supposedly independent journalistic organizations represented by the Union of Journalists of Russia and the special services, transforming them into means of political influence and information manipulation.

We call on international journalistic and human rights organizations to respond adequately to such informational diversions and to decisively condemn the use of media for political purposes,” the statement reads.