The Russian Foreign Ministry announced today that it has given a complaint to the Azerbaijan ambassador to Moscow for Baku’s “non -friendly actions” as he described them as to arrest Russian journalists.

The ministry, in a statement, accused Baku of taking “deliberate measures … to dismantle bilateral relations”.

Earlier, the Kremlin announced that it is expecting to secure the liberation of Russian journalists held in Azerbaijan in a case that is part of the deepening of the diplomatic controversy between the two neighboring countries.

Journalists were arrested Monday as suspected of fraud. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Azerbaijan’s actions seem to be a “emotional reaction”, but stressed that all concerns could be resolved through immediate dialogue between the two countries.

Azerbaijan’s prosecutors said today that criminal investigation began the alleged murder of two Azerbaijan brothers arrested in Russia last week, saying that they were both beaten to death while being detained.