Azerbaijan Closes Russian Media Office Amid Rising Tensions

Azerbaijan has closed the Baku office of Russian media outlet Rossiya Segodnya and revoked the accreditation of a Voice of America reporter. This move follows the suspension of BBC News' Azerbaijani operations and occurs amid increasing scrutiny of Azerbaijan's press freedom practices and strained relations with Russia.

Azerbaijan has taken the significant step of closing the Baku office of the Russian state media outlet Rossiya Segodnya. The government also revoked the accreditation of a Voice of America reporter, as stated by the foreign ministry spokesperson Ayhan Hajizade on Monday. While specific reasons behind these decisions have not been provided, they come in the wake of last week's suspension of BBC News' Azerbaijani operations.

Despite these setbacks, Rossiya Segodnya, which oversees Sputnik and RIA Novosti news agencies, and BBC News, retain the capacity to have one correspondent each in Azerbaijan. The response from Rossiya Segodnya was not immediate, and Voice of America, funded by U.S. Congress and producing content in 48 languages, also did not provide an immediate comment.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has faced criticism from the West regarding press freedom and expression, especially as the country comes under more scrutiny. There are currently 23 media professionals imprisoned, according to Reporters without Borders. Additionally, investigations into smuggling charges have been launched against journalists from independent media. The situation with Russia has grown more complex since an Azerbaijani airliner crash, for which Aliyev seeks accountability and transparency from Moscow.