A court in Azerbaijan has handed prison terms to eight Russian citizens detained amid the conflict between Baku and Moscow. The ruling was reported by Minval.
All eight were found guilty of large-scale illegal drug trafficking. Sergey Sofronov, Anton Drachev, Dmitry Bezugly, and Valery Dulov were each sentenced to four years in prison. Dmitry Fedorov, Boris Timoshov, Alexey Vasilchenko, and Ilya Bezugly each received three-year terms.
How the crisis unfolded
The crisis in relations between Russia and Azerbaijan began in December 2024 after an AZAL passenger plane crashed because of Russian air defense activity. Russian authorities, the report says, long refused to accept responsibility or apologize, prompting a sharp response from Baku.
In the summer of 2025, tensions escalated further after influential members of the Azerbaijani diaspora were detained in Russia. In response, 11 randomly chosen Russian citizens were detained in Azerbaijan. According to the report, they included recently relocated IT specialists, businesspeople, and tourists.
Earlier sentences
The first three sentences against Russian citizens were delivered in April and May. Aleksandr Vaysero was sentenced to four years, while Igor Zabolotsky and Ilnur Valitov received three years each. All three were found guilty of cyber fraud and money laundering.