In Vladikavkaz, security officers searched the newsroom of the regional outlet Sapa on April 14. Several staff members were taken away for questioning, and some were later released. Editor-in-chief Alina Dzhikayeva was detained. The next day, a Moscow court hearing revealed that these events were connected to the criminal case against journalists from the Telegram channel Baza.
According to the Investigative Committee, in 2020 Dzhikayeva reached an arrangement with a duty officer in Makhachkala to receive information about incidents and the operational situation in Dagestan and North Ossetia. Investigators say that from July 2020 to June 2025 she paid him more than 250,000 rubles, and that the data she received contained personal information.
The newsroom said the investigators’ statement did not explain why other staff in Vladikavkaz were affected, since Sapa itself has existed only since March 2023. Investigators also reported searches in Makhachkala at the suspects’ homes and workplaces. They are expected to be taken to Moscow for further investigative actions.
TASS, citing the Interior Ministry, reported that the publication of material allegedly based on this information hindered the solving of criminal cases, helped destroy traces of crimes, and affected the interests of citizens whose personal data had been disclosed.
Sapa correspondent Zaur Farniev said that by the evening of April 14 some employees had been released, but the whereabouts of several colleagues remained unknown for a long time. After midnight, six newsroom employees and two workers from the travel company Eyes Tour, located in the same building, were released from the police station. Dzhikayeva, who also heads the agency, remained in custody.
On April 15, at a hearing in Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court in the Baza case, it was stated that the searches at Sapa were directly tied to that investigation. The court extended house arrest for Baza editor-in-chief Gleb Trifonov and journalist Tatyana Lukyanova. TASS reported that investigators say they admitted guilt and are cooperating. Previously, they had denied guilt. According to the investigation, the journalists paid police officers in different regions for official information; they are charged with large-scale bribery, which carries up to 12 years in prison.