BAKU, July 1 /TASS/. Baku’s Khatai District Court has ordered the arrest of Sputnik Azerbaijan head Igor Kartavykh and editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov for four months, the APA news agency reported.
According to the outlet, they face charges under the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, including fraud causing significant damage, illegal entrepreneurship involving large-scale income, and the legalization of criminally obtained property.
Earlier, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry announced that law enforcement agencies had conducted an operation at the Sputnik Azerbaijan headquarters and later confirmed the detention of Kartavykh and Belousov. The Sputnik editorial staff stated that they had not received any official orders banning their operations in Azerbaijan and added that working groups were in contact to resolve possible disagreements.
On Tuesday, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Moscow Rahman Mustafayev was handed a note verbale demanding the immediate release of the Russian journalists detained in Baku.