By Tass
MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Rahman Mustafayev, who was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, has arrived at the ministry’s building in downtown Moscow, a TASS correspondent reported on Tuesday.
The diplomat proceeded without any comment for journalists.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Mustafayev had been summoned in connection with Baku’s unfriendly steps and the illegal detention of Russian journalists.
Situation with Sputnik Azerbaijan
Earlier, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry announced that law enforcement officials were conducting an operation at the office of Russia鈥檚 Sputnik Azerbaijan news agency. After that announcement, RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said that the agency鈥檚 employees had become unreachable.
Sputnik stated that they had not received a formal ban preventing them from working in Azerbaijan. The news agency said that a dialogue was underway between working groups to settle possible disagreements.
Detentions in Yekaterinburg
The press service of the Sverdlovsk Region branch of the Russian Investigative Committee reported earlier that police thwarted the activities of an ethnic group engaged in a murder-for-hire scheme and an attempted murder. Investigators say the defendants were involved in several murders and attempted murders in Yekaterinburg in 2001, 2010, and 2011. The Russian Investigative Committee noted that a total of six people were detained.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Russian charge d’affaires Pyotr Volkovykh, who was summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, provided the necessary explanations regarding the situation. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized the importance of continuing to explain to Baku the reasons for detaining Azerbaijani nationals in Yekaterinburg. In turn, Baku protested the actions of law enforcement officials by canceling cultural and other events with Russia. The Kremlin emphasized that Moscow regrets Baku’s actions.