Zahharova on the Deportation of Russian Citizens of Armenian Ethnicity from Azerbaijan

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, addressed the issue of prohibiting Russian citizens of Armenian ethnicity from entering Azerbaijan during a press briefing.

“I have seen numerous reports on this topic on social media. There were incidents during the festive days. We have raised this issue with the Azerbaijani side. Unfortunately, such cases are becoming a bad and erroneous tradition. Last year, there were 16 recorded incidents where Russian citizens were banned from entering Azerbaijan due to their ethnic background,” said Maria Zakharova.

Recall that on December 29, Russian citizen Kristina Gevorgyan posted on her Facebook page that she spent 13 hours at Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport. She wished to celebrate the New Year holidays in Azerbaijan but was stopped at the passport control. Gevorgyan wrote that two other families were also denied entry to Baku due to the Armenian surname of one of their relatives.

Zakharova noted, “In our view, the reported facts are gross violations of the rights of Russian citizens. They contradict the letter and spirit of Russian-Azerbaijani treaties and agreements.”