Two Azerbaijani men who died in Russian custody last week were beaten to death, according to forensic officials in Baku, deepening diplomatic tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia.
Fresh autopsies conducted in Baku on brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov have revealed that both men died from severe beatings, contradicting Russian claims that at least one of them died of heart failure, Azerbaijani forensic officials said on Tuesday.
The Safarov brothers were among six ethnic Azerbaijanis detained in Yekaterinburg last week during raids by Russian investigators probing unsolved crimes. Russian authorities had initially attributed Ziyaddin’s death to heart failure and offered no official explanation for Huseyn's death.
Adalat Hasanov, head of forensic examination at Azerbaijan's Health Ministry, said the post-mortems in Baku revealed "post-traumatic shock" as the cause of death in both cases. Ziyaddin's body showed multiple fractures, all ribs broken, and head trauma consistent with blunt force injury. Huseyn also suffered fatal injuries consistent with beatings, Hasanov added.
He further stated that Russian authorities had removed all internal organs during their autopsies — a move Baku interprets as a possible attempt to conceal the true cause of death.
The case has intensified diplomatic fallout. Azerbaijan’s ambassador was summoned to Moscow on Tuesday over what the Russian Foreign Ministry described as "unfriendly actions" and the “illegal detention” of two Sputnik journalists in Baku. The journalists were arrested as part of an investigation into alleged illegal funding of the Russian state-backed news agency.
Azerbaijan has accused Russian police of extrajudicial killings based on ethnic targeting — an allegation Russia has denied. Moscow maintains that all six individuals detained during the Yekaterinburg raids were Russian citizens.
As the diplomatic row deepens, both sides continue to trade accusations, marking a rare public rift between the two countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump is about to unveil the charter of his proposed 'Board of Peace' in Davos, an initiative that has expanded well beyond its ...
A faint hand outline found in an Indonesian cave has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago, making it the oldest known example of rock art and offer...
The stark, frozen beauty of the Arctic has become the unlikely stage for a high-stakes diplomatic standoff that threatens to dismantle the transatlant...
Syria’s government accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of attacks that it said killed 11 soldiers, raising doubts over a four-day cease...
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 22nd of January, covering the latest developments you need to ...
A faint hand outline found in an Indonesian cave has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago, making it the oldest known example of rock art and offering new insight into early human migration across Southeast Asia.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 22nd of January, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Venezuelan oil exports under a flagship $2 billion supply deal with the U.S. reached about 7.8 million barrels on Wednesday, vessel-tracking data and documents from state-run PDVSA showed.
Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund, State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), has signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement worth up to $1.4 billion with Brookfield Asset Management on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, officials said.
Several locally-developed instant messaging applications were reportedly restored in Iran on Tuesday (20 January), partially easing communications restrictions imposed after recent unrest.
There was a common theme in speeches at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday (20 January). China’s Vice-Premier, He Lifeng, warned that "tariffs and trade wars have no winners," while France's Emmanuel Macron, labelled "endless accumulation of new tariffs" from the U.S. "fundamentally unacceptable."
U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington would “work something out” with NATO allies on Tuesday, defending his approach to the alliance while renewing his push for U.S. control of Greenland amid rising tensions with Europe.
At the World Economic Forum’s “Defining Eurasia’s Economic Identity” panel on 20 January 2026, leaders from Azerbaijan, Armenia and Serbia discussed how the South Caucasus and wider Eurasian region can strengthen economic ties, peace and geopolitical stability amid shifting global influence.
The European Union has proposed new restrictions on exports of drone and missile-related technology to Iran, while preparing additional sanctions in response to what it described as Tehran’s "brutal suppression" of protesters.
Syria’s government accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of attacks that it said killed 11 soldiers, raising doubts over a four-day ceasefire announced after days of fighting in the northeast.
Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund, State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), has signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement worth up to $1.4 billion with Brookfield Asset Management on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, officials said.
The United States is placing renewed emphasis on regional partnerships that offer predictability, security cooperation and economic continuity as instability deepens across the Middle East and parts of Eurasia
Armenia and Azerbaijan will interconnect their energy systems, enabling mutual electricity imports and exports as part of a wider regional transit initiative, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
Kazakhstan has yet to receive results from two foreign laboratories examining evidence linked to the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft near Aktau, delaying the publication of the final investigation report, officials said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment