The arrested leaders of "Sputnik Azerbaijan" have no connection to journalism, MP of Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament) Sahib Aliyev told APA.
The MP said that since the inception of the media, regardless of its positive or negative connotations, it has always acted as a tool of influence: "Great powers have also tried to use it as an instrument of foreign influence, and this policy continues today, albeit in a somewhat different form. By ‘different,’ I mean that today the media in various states primarily serve as tools of hybrid warfare. Russia differs from other states here in that, just as issues such as precision, subtlety, and hitting the target are forgotten when using military force, its information policy is not much different in this regard. It is precisely because of such crude informational interventions and the disregard of any norms that many countries have banned the operation of the ‘Sputnik’ agency, which has also been closed in Azerbaijan. And it’s not just ‘Sputnik’; Western countries have also banned Russia’s propaganda and disinformation resources such as RT. Investigations launched in the US have uncovered a range of shady activities, from money laundering to the formation of influence networks."
Sahib Aliyev stated that given such a reality, the Russian Journalists' Union’s characterization of the closure of the "Sputnik Azerbaijan" agency and the arrest of two special service officers operating illegally under the guise of journalists as an attack on freedom of speech, and its related calls to international organizations, is a completely inadequate step: “However, unfortunately, we have recently seen similar behavior from many structures of the neighboring state, so we are no longer very surprised by it. At the same time, I find it necessary to note that if international organizations, especially those specializing in human rights, had responded adequately to the discrimination against Caucasians and Central Asians in Russia lately, including brutal acts resulting in murders, perhaps the Russian Journalists’ Union would not have made such a call, blinded by their own shame.”
The MP believes that if the Russian Journalists’ Union is truly concerned about the fate of its journalists, then it should also address the killings of dozens of writers, including Azerbaijani Orkhan Jamal, as well as the arrests and exile of hundreds of journalists who have opposed the aggression against Ukraine since it began. As of Igor Kartavikh and Yevgeny Belousov, whom the same organization presents as journalists, it is enough to look at their social media accounts to see that they have nothing to do with journalism. It also becomes clear that Russia is not fulfilling its commitment not to engage in espionage activities in the CIS member states.
