The work permits of the editor-in-chief of the Sputnik Azerbaijan website and the producer of the press center have not been extended.
The State Migration Service's "List of persons denied temporary residence permits and revoked temporary residence permits" also includes their names. The head of the Public Relations Department of the State Migration Service, Elnur Kalantarov, confirmed the information. He said that the appeals of these people to extend their work permits were rejected.
It should be noted that the residence permit is automatically revoked in case of refusal to apply for a work permit in the country.
The work permit of Veranika Antonova-Trizno, editor-in-chief of Sputnik Azerbaijan, and her husband, Pavel Antonov, producer of Sputnik Azerbaijan's press center, expired on June 6.
Sputnik news agency started operating in the global media space on November 14, 2014. Sputnik Azerbaijan portal, a Russia Today media group project, has been working in the country since 2015.
On June 3, Caucasus Watch reported that RIA Novosti published an extensive interview with Artak Beglaryan, the de-facto Minister of State of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. On the night of the same day, Azerbaijan blocked Russia's RIA Novosti agency on its territory.
The agency turned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to ask why the site was blocked. "The spread of provocative statements by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti casts a shadow over efforts to bring peace to the region," the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Leyla Abdullayeva, said during her commentary on an interview with Artak Beglaryan. According to Abdullayeva, the information dissemination by the state news agency of Russia, which opposes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, propagating slanderous slogans and separatist tendencies does not correspond with the spirit of friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Russia and is thus deeply regrettable.
After several days, RIA Novosti deleted the interview, which caused the dissatisfaction of the Azerbaijani public and the Foreign Ministry.
