ArmInfo.The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to the statement of Baku in connection with the non-admission of Russian citizens with Armenian roots to Azerbaijan.
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in particular, notes: <We note the commentary tone that goes beyond the framework of diplomatic decency. No less perplexing is its content, which boils down to the requirement not to inflate the topic of discrimination of Russian citizens coming to Azerbaijan as allegedly insignificant against the background of the dynamic progressive development of bilateral relations. This approach, of course, is unacceptable. Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Russian citizens is one of the unconditional priorities of our foreign policy, carried out under the leadership of the President of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the presence of friendly interstate relations with a particular country is usually considered as a factor contributing to a constructive solution of problems in this field.
Instead of having no direct connection to the case of general reasoning, we would like to hear substantive explanations of each incident with the Russians. Among these, in the terminology of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, there are particular cases as flagrant as the refusal of a veteran of World War II, an eighty-one-year-old resident of besieged Leningrad, to enter the country in February 2018, or a woman's failure to enter the country in February 2017, who, together with her four-year-old son, kept in isolation ward.
We also expect official clarifications through diplomatic channels regarding the hints of the Azerbaijani side on the need for Russian citizens to coordinate trips to Azerbaijan with the republic's embassy in Moscow, which would violate the July 3, 1997 agreement on visa-free trips of citizens of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan Republic.
Depending on the substantive reaction of the Azerbaijani side, we will be determined with our further steps."