Friday, January 18 2019 14:56

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."