Russia and Azerbaijan exchange arrested citizens

Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed the release of the executive director of Sputnik Azerbaijan, Igor Kartavykh, who had been under arrest in Azerbaijan.

According to Kommersant, the matter was primarily negotiated between presidential aides Yuri Ushakov and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Hikmet Hajiyev, with a final decision reached ahead of the Putin-Aliyev meeting in Dushanbe on Thursday.

The aides coordinated their efforts directly with Presidents Putin and Aliyev, which was key to securing Kartavykh's release.

In a reciprocal move, the Russian side released one of the Azerbaijani citizens detained in Russia.

Dmitry Kiselev, CEO of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, later reported that Kartavykh's pretrial detention had been replaced with house arrest. He is currently in Baku.