Russian Foreign Ministry criticizes Baku for discriminating its citizens of Armenian nationality

Moscow / 11.01.19 / Turan: Moscow expects that Baku will abandon its discriminatory ethnic policy towards Russian citizens of Armenian nationality and will not prevent their entry into Azerbaijan, announced on Friday at a briefing in Moscow the director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

"If we talk about statistics, last year we became aware of at least 16 cases of denial of entry for Russian citizens on ethnic grounds in Azerbaijan," she continued. "At the same time, Russian citizens were detained for hours at the airport and then forcibly expelled from the country without specifying official reasons."

"Such cases, unfortunately, are becoming a tradition, bad and wrong," the diplomat noted. "These facts are, in our view, a gross violation of the rights of Russian citizens, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Russian-Azerbaijani Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Security, Intergovernmental Agreement on Visa-free Travel of Citizens and the Declaration of Friendship and Strategic Partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan. "

According to her, the Russian side "has repeatedly drawn the attention of the Azerbaijani side to the unacceptability of the situation, demanded to stop the practice of detention and expulsion, because it is incompatible with the friendly relations between the two countries."

"We received assurances in the course of contacts with the Azerbaijani leadership that the situation would be rectified, and we hope it will," Zakharova said. -02D-