A search is underway at the office of the independent publication Sapa in Vladikavkaz, a major city in the North Caucasus.

A search is underway at the editorial office of the independent publication Sapa in Vladikavkaz, a major city in the North Caucasus. The outlet itself reported this.

“The journalists managed to report that unknown people in plain clothes entered the building in the morning. They began conducting a search. The editorial staff have been unreachable for six hours,” Sapa clarified.

According to unconfirmed reports, law enforcement officers took several people away, but the reason is unknown.

On 15 April, the editor-in-chief of Sapa, Alina Djikaeva, was detained in Moscow. She is suspected of allegedly giving bribes to an on-duty officer of the Internal Affairs Department for Makhachkala in exchange for information about incidents in North Ossetia and Dagestan that contained personal data. The Investigative Committee reports that the amount exceeded 250,000 roubles (about US$2,700).

“The wording regarding the alleged incident, which supposedly took place in 2020, raises questions. If that is the case, it brings up again the issue of why all editorial staff were taken away, since at that time the outlet did not yet exist—Sapa was founded in March 2023,” the editorial team noted.

Six journalists and two employees of the travel agency Eyes Tour, which is located in the same building as Sapa and were detained during the search, have been released.