Azerbaijan Frees Russian Media Boss Sputnik After Putin-Ailyev's Struggle

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijanan President Ilham Aliyev/PHOTO via Instagram @russian_kremlin

JAKARTA - Authorities in Azerbaijan released a Russian journalist from prison to house arrest following a meeting between Russian leaders and Azerbaijan.

Igor Kartavykh, Executive Director of Sputnik Azerbaijan, was arrested with several of his colleagues in June amid a diplomatic dispute between Moscow and Baku.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, October 10, two sources in the Azerbaijan government confirmed Kartavykh's release to Reuters. One source said it was unclear whether the media director would still face lawsuits.

Baku has launched an investigation into Sputnik Azerbaijan after ordering its own Russian state company, Rossiya Segodnya, to close its office in the South Kautasus country.

The Russian Kommersant newspaper reported that an unnamed citizen was released from Russian custody in exchange for Kartavykh.

Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov told Kommersant the decision to release the director of Sputnik Azerbaijan was made ahead of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijanian President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday in the Tajikistan capital, Dushanbe.

At the meeting, Putin made his most honest confession until now Russia accidentally shot down an Azerbaijani passenger plane last December, and promised compensation.

The plane crash, which killed 38 people, strained relations between Moscow and Baku after it was revealed that Russian air defenses mistakenly shot down the plane in a Ukrainian drone strike in southern Russia.

The arrest of the Russian government journalist came after authorities in Russia arrested a group of Azerbaijanan ethnic groups linked to unsolved historical crimes, including serial killings. Two suspects died in Russian police custody, which sparked Azerbaijan's outrage.