Russia's Foreign Ministry Responds to Aliyev's Statements

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's emotional reaction to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks about foreign mercenaries in Nagorno-Karabakh. This information was provided to TASS by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

Surprised by this reaction, the source recalled Lavrov's precise quotation given in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant on November 3: “Of course, we are concerned about the internationalization of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the involvement of militants from the Middle East. We have repeatedly called on external players to use their influence to curb the deployment of mercenaries, the number of whom, according to available data, is nearing two thousand in the conflict zone. This topic has been raised, in particular, by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 27 and during regular communications with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. We persistently continue to promote our position on various issues,” Lavrov stated.

“As you can see, there is no reproach in the comments against Azerbaijan or any other country,” the TASS interlocutor continued.

Meanwhile, Aliyev, in an interview with the Spanish EFE news agency, expressed regret that “the high-ranking officials from the countries that should remain neutral are utilizing unverified information” in their commentary on the Foreign Minister's words about mercenaries. Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan has no mercenaries, and there is no evidence that any foreign fighters are battling on Azerbaijan's side.

The Russian side believes that aides to the Azerbaijani president may have shown him different materials or provided their interpretations.