European Union Ambassador to Azerbaijan Peter Michalko has condemned Russia’s recent violent arrest of ethnic Azeris that has sparked a diplomatic spat between Moscow and Baku.
“I am deeply concerned by the reports of violence, torture and inhuman treatment against ethnic Azerbaijanis in Russia, leading even to deaths, committed by Russian security forces. My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Michalko said in a statement on Monday.
Russia’s security service had previously arrested dozens of Azeris during a violent raid in Yekaterinburg in central Russia on Friday in connection with a 2001 murder case. According to the Azeri Foreign Ministry, several detainees were killed and injured in the operation, while nine people were detained.
Azerbaijan later reportedly canceled all cultural events linked to Russia “due to the demonstrative targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence committed by Russian law enforcement agencies against Azeris,” the country’s Culture Ministry stated.
The Russian Investigative Committee of the Sverdlovsk region, whose capital is Yekaterinburg, admitted two suspects had indeed died during their arrest, but claimed the detained Azeris were Russian citizens.
“One of the defendants died as a result of heart failure; the cause of death of the second person is currently being established,” said committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko. She said the group that had been targeted was suspected of organizing a murder in 2001 and of attempted murders in 2010 and 2011.
The investigative committee claimed it had arrested only six suspects, but local media reported that subsequent beatings resulted in severe injuries to at least three of them.
On Monday the Azeri Interior Ministry responded with a raid on Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local branch of the Russia Today state media holding, and arrested two officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service who had been working for the media channel.
The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed the detainees were journalists and summoned the Azeri ambassador “in connection with the unfriendly actions of Baku.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the Azeri response, arguing the work of Russian law enforcement should not lead to diplomatic démarches and spats between allied nations.
But Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, took charge of the case from Sverdlovsk on June 28 and has demanded a detailed report on the situation.
Russia and Azerbaijan have enjoyed largely cordial relations since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, and Moscow remains one of Baku’s main suppliers of arms.
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