Azerbaijan has accused Russian police of torturing and killing two Azerbaijani citizens during a raid carried out by Russian authorities in Yekaterinburg, straining already tense relations between the former Soviet republics.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry identified the victims as brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov.

According to Azerbaijani officials, the raid was part of a Russian investigation into an unsolved 2001 murder. Several other individuals were injured during the operation, and nine were taken into custody.

Post-mortem examinations conducted in Azerbaijan reportedly showed that both men died from “post-traumatic shock” caused by severe beatings. A criminal investigation into their deaths has been launched in Baku.

Russian authorities offered a different account, claiming one man died of a heart attack while the other’s cause of death remains under investigation. They also alleged that the brothers were involved in a criminal network distributing counterfeit alcohol tied to multiple deaths in 2021.

In response, Azerbaijan canceled cultural events with Russian organizations and scrapped a scheduled visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk. 

On Tuesday, Azerbaijani police also detained seven people at the Baku office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, a news agency affiliated with Russia Today, as part of a criminal investigation.

Relations between the two countries have worsened since December, when an Azerbaijani airliner was allegedly shot down by a Russian missile, killing 38 people.