Tuesday, January 31 2017 19:43

ArmInfo. The case on extradition of Russian-Israeli blog writer Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan cannot become a precedent, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated at the press conference in Yerevan.

He thinks that Baku's such a nervous reaction will not have negative  impact on the flow of visitors and tourists to Artsakh, however it  can harm Azerbaijan and all those, who help to fulfill ideas of the  headship of this country. "There are nearly 500 names on Baku's list,  famous figures from various fields among them". Can any one extradite  them? Consequently, Azerbaijan's such a reaction is more likely an  advertisement", the Minister emphasized.

To note, on January 20, General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus made a  decision to fulfill the request of Azerbaijan's General Prosecutor's  Office on extradition of Russian and Israeli citizen, well-known blog  writer Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan. The Russian Foreign Ministry  has told ArmInfo that the Russian Embassy in Minsk is taking all  measures to protect the rights and interests of the Russian-Israeli  blog writer Alexander Lapshin.  To remind, in the middle of December  the citizen of the Russian Federation Alexander Lapshin has been  arrested in the Republic of Belarus with the purpose of extradition  on the demand of Azerbaijan for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh and making  notes about those visitations in his blog. Lapshin is included in  Azerbaijan's black list for visiting Karabakh and he was forbidden to  enter Azerbaijan.  However, in June 2015 Lapshin arrived in  Azerbaijan via Georgia with his Ukrainian passport. After that  Azerbaijan put him on wanted list for violation of the law on state  border and migration code of the country.

To note, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister stated at the   annual press conference in Moscow, commenting the detention of   Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin in Minsk due to  Azerbaijan's request for his visit to Nagorno Karabakh. "Russia is  against criminalization of journalists or simply private persons  visiting any region", he said.  "Second, we are against extradition  of Russian nationals arrested in any country, to third countries. We  had consular contact with Lapshin, we know that he is also an Israeli  citizen and Israeli diplomats had contact with him as well. We will  take all the steps to solve this situation within the respect to all  the rights of Russian citizen, which is also an Israeli citizen,"  Lavrov accentuated.