Law enforcement authorities have detained two individuals following a police operation at the Baku office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local branch of Russia's Rossiya Segodnya International News Agency, Azernews reports.
The individuals—identified as director Igor Kartavikh and employee Yevgeny Belousov—were escorted from the building in a law enforcement vehicle.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched the operation earlier today, placing the office under police control. While Sputnik Azerbaijan’s activities were officially suspended in February, the agency reportedly continued to operate and its staff had resumed work at the office.
The original decision to halt the agency's operations was made to ensure parity in the number of foreign and local journalists, specifically balancing the presence of Russian media in Azerbaijan with Azerbaijani state media representation in Russia.
