Azerbaijan barred consular access to arrested Russians, diplomat says

Azerbaijan has not granted consular access to arrested Russian citizens, including Russian journalists, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reports.

She noted that the Russian side requested the opportunity for the staff of the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan to visit the Russian citizens. "Unfortunately, at this moment, no opportunity to visit the Russian citizens, including journalists from Russian media outlets, was granted," the diplomat said at a briefing on Thursday.

That said, Zakharova emphasized that the Russian Foreign Ministry is in constant communication with the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan.

On June 30, Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry announced a law enforcement operation conducted in the office of the Sputnik Azerbaijan news agency. Later, the ministry reported several people detained at the office, including Sputnik Azerbaijan’s head Igor Kartavykh and the agency’s editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov.