A very resonant decision was made the day before. Mikhail Gusman, after working at the agency for almost thirty years, was dismissed from his post as First Deputy Director General of TASS. This happened after Gusman participated in a media forum held in Azerbaijan, which was attended by President Ilham Aliyev.

Axar.az reports that the Russian Telegram channel “Kremlyovskaya Tabakerka” wrote about this.

“No one understands such a step against the backdrop of the deterioration of diplomatic relations between Baku and Moscow. Although some spread rumors that Gusman was used as a messenger to deliver an important message to Aliyev. This version is also confirmed by Ilham Aliyev’s condolences to Vladimir Putin over the crash of the An-24 plane in the Amur region. Despite Aliyev’s partial withdrawal, Gusman remained without a post. And according to some sources, the second prominent participant in the Azerbaijani visit will also be punished. Sergey Markov hopes that he will be able to get away with it. But no. The high-ranking officials behind him will not help either,” the channel wrote.