Zakharova: It`s unfortunate that Baku saw an "Armenian trace" in liquidation of "All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress"

ArmInfo. The official Representative  of Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, touched upon the  closure of the public organization "All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress"  in Russia and the reaction of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to  this.

"They were perplexed by the statements made by the press service of  the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and published by one local agency  about the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on  the liquidation of the all-Russian public organization "All-Russian  Azerbaijani Congress" because of numerous violations of federal  legislation. We paid attention to the statement of the representative  of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan regarding Russian  domestic policy, there were words about the "balance of interethnic  relations, the concept of reforms and prospects for intercultural  dialogue" in our country. We believe such statements are  inappropriate. The evaluation of the Russian court's decision  regarding the Russian public organization as an "unfriendly step"  towards Azerbaijan looks strange.

It is regrettable that the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan again uses  the versions published in a number of media and voices them,  especially publicly, about some "Armenian trace," Zakharova said at  the briefing held yesterday.

At the same time she stressed that Moscow does not need any  questionable advice on how to build inter- ethnic relations in own  country. "Russia is a multinational democratic state, where  everyone's rights are secured and protected regardless of their  nationality. We have created all conditions for self-organization and  full-fledged activity of cultural-national public associations. In  particular, over 260 non-profit organizations represent the interests  of Russian citizens of Azerbaijani nationality. At the federal level,  the Azerbaijan Youth Association of Russia, the Union of Azerbaijani  Organizations of Russia, the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of  Azerbaijanis of Russia, the World Azerbaijan Cultural Foundation  successfully work.

In Russia, the strategic partnership with Azerbaijan is valued, the  course for the all-round strengthening of which is determined by the  heads of the two states. We are convinced that the statements I have  quoted (perhaps not fully thought out) will not prejudice  Russian-Azerbaijani relations," the official representative of the  Russian Foreign Ministry resumed.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on May 15 satisfied the  suit of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on the  liquidation of the public organization "All-Russian Azerbaijan  Congress" (VAK) because of the inconsistency of its charter with  Russian legislation. Earlier in the Ministry of Justice of the  Russian Federation it was reported that during the control and  supervisory activities in relation to the organization it was  established that the provisions of its charter did not meet the  requirements of the current legislation. In particular, the name of  the organization does not contain an indication of the nature of its  activities, and information on persons entitled to act without a  power of attorney on behalf of the organization does not comply with  information on the organization contained in the Unified State  Register of Legal Entities. The closure of the VAK caused an  unhealthy reaction in Azerbaijan, which hastened to see the Armenian  trace on this issue.