(MENAFN) Russian journalist Igor Kartavyh, editor-in-chief of Sputnik Azerbaijan, has been released in Azerbaijan, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov confirmed Friday.

Kartavyh was detained in June on allegations of secretly working for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Ushakov told Kommersant that his release was arranged ahead of Thursday’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Sputnik’s Baku office, which suspended operations following the journalist’s detention, has not issued an official statement regarding his release. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that Kartavyh had been under house arrest earlier this week, with Russian diplomats providing continuous support during his detention.

The release is reportedly part of a reciprocal diplomatic arrangement. An Azerbaijani national, identified by Kommersant as Mamedali Agayev, a former Moscow theater director arrested in August on embezzlement charges, was freed in Russia.

Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan had been strained following a December 2024 incident in which an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane, damaged near Grozny during a Ukrainian drone raid, crash-landed in Kazakhstan. Putin attributed the crash to a Russian missile self-destructing during air defense operations and promised compensation for victims.

Kartavyh’s detention also followed a Russian police operation against alleged Azerbaijani criminal groups in the Urals, which Baku condemned as overly aggressive.

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