Foreign departments of Russia and Azerbaijan continue to exchange  "courtesies"

ArmInfo. The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan responded to a statement by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, who called "boorish" publications of Azerbaijani media about her deputy Artem Kozhin.

"It is necessary to understand and treat journalists with  understanding about the situation of Dilgam Asgarov, a citizen of  Azerbaijan and Russia arrested in Nagorno-Karabakh," said the head of  the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Hikmet  Hajiyev, commenting on "impartial expressions against Azerbaijani  journalists" of the colleague Maria Zakharova, APA reports. According  to him, it is necessary to take into account that the fate of Dilgam  Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev (Azerbaijani saboteurs arrested in  Artsakh) is in the focus of close attention of the Azerbaijani  people. "The mass media are a mirror of public opinion," he said,  reassuring that Guliyev and Askerov had crossed the state border to  visit the graves of their parents in the Karvachar district, which is  currently in the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The day before, the official representative of the Russian Foreign  Ministry, Maria Zakharova, expressed her indignation with the  publications of the Azerbaijani media regarding the comment of her  deputy Artem Kozhin about the Azeri saboteur Dilgam Askerov, a  citizen of Azerbaijan and Russia, convicted in Karabakh. "I read the  materials of the Azerbaijani media. These are just boorish articles.  These articles are not with analysis, they are articles, maybe not  even with criticism, constructive or unconstructive. And then you ask  for more information? After such articles, I do not even want to  talk," Zakharova said at a weekly briefing, referring to the reporter  of the Azerbaijani news agency APA, who tried to ask a question about  the saboteur Askerov. According to her, such media, using  problematic, complex issues, create a advisory background for  rejection between the two countries and peoples. "This is not  journalistic work. This is rudeness. I can not otherwise characterize  this. It's one thing to inform our public, and the other is to  constantly use problematic issues to incite hostility between two  peoples and countries. But they will not succeed. No article can  spoil relations between Moscow and Baku. But, of course, they can  create a certain background. It is not clear why they should  undermine bilateral relations. We must ask them if such articles are  beneficial to Azerbaijan itself," said Zakharova.

This statement by the representative of the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs of the Russian Federation caused a number of negative  publications in the Azerbaijani media, often transcending  journalistic ethics. To recall, Dilham Askerov, carrying weapons and  ammunition, on June 29, 2014 with two accomplices illegally crossed  the state border of the NKR and penetrated the territory of Shahumyan  region of the Nagorno- Karabakh Republic with the purpose of carrying  out reconnaissance activities. Askerov and two of his accomplices  managed to kill a 17-year-old teenager before his arrest. And during  the operation to detain them, a major of the NKR Defense Army died.  Now Askerov is serving a life sentence.