Putin aide says Russia in talks with Azerbaijan over detained citizens
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Moscow is in discussions with the Azerbaijani side at both the highest and working levels regarding the release of Russian citizens detained in Baku, News.Az reports, citing Russian media.
“Careful work is underway – the president has raised all these issues, and they are also being addressed at the working level. We continue our dialogue,” Peskov said, responding to questions about Russia’s efforts to secure the release of the detained citizens.
Asked whether the matter had been discussed during recent talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, Peskov said: “First of all, we highly value the results of the bilateral meeting between the two presidents in Dushanbe. It was a very important meeting in terms of turning a new page in our bilateral relations together.”
Earlier, a Baku court extended the detention of the Russians for another three months. The Sabayil District Court said the individuals had been detained during an operation by Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry related to the transit and trafficking of narcotics from Iran, as well as cyber fraud. On July 1, the court had initially ordered their detention for four months.
Diplomatic tensions between Baku and Moscow escalated following Russia’s refusal to accept responsibility for the December 25, 2024, crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 passenger plane in Kazakhstan, and the June 27, 2025, killing of two Azerbaijanis in police custody in Yekaterinburg.
After the Yekaterinburg incident, Azerbaijani authorities arrested eight Russians on charges of drug trafficking and cybercrime, as well as Sputnik Azerbaijan editor-in-chief Yevgeniy Belousov and executive director Igor Kartavykh on charges of fraud and illegal business. Following the recent Dushanbe meeting between Presidents Aliyev and Putin, a Baku court released Belousov and Kartavykh from custody.
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