DUSHANBE, October 9. /TASS/. All pressing issues in Russian-Azerbaijani relations were raised during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Vedomosti, replying to a question as to whether the issue of Russian citizens detained in Azerbaijan had been raised.

"All pressing issues on the agenda were discussed during the conversation in a productive way," the Kremlin official said.

In June, the Russian Investigative Committee reported intercepting the activities of a criminal ethnic group implicated in a number of homicides in the early 2000s. Eight suspects were taken into custody, two of which died. Baku claimed they were brutalized.

The sides exchanged notes of protest, and Russian journalists Igor Kartavykh and Yevgeny Belousov were arrested in Azerbaijan along with a number of Russian citizens who still remain in custody.