Yerevan /Mediamax/. Russian MFA representative Artyom Kozhin criticized Azerbaijani media.

Mediamax reports that Russian MFA website published the response of Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department Artyom Kozhin to the media’s question if Russian Foreign Ministry takes any action to defend Russian citizen Dilgam Askerov, “who was given a life sentence by the illegitimate court of the unrecognized NKR in December of 2014”.

Mediamax notes that Dilgam Askerov is one of the Azerbaijani diversionists who illegally infiltrated Artsakh and killed an Armenian teenager.

“We are touched by unwavering attention of Azerbaijani media to our actions for protection of Russian citizens. Let me assure you that Russian MFA consistently defends the interests of all Russian citizens, regardless of their ethnicity.

As you know, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone is one of the places that Russian citizens are recommended to refrain from visiting. At the same time, we are principally against criminalization of peaceful visits of various zones by journalists or individuals.

As for Dilgam Askerov in particular, we have to state that he (the same as A. Lapshin later) ignored the mentioned recommendation of Russian MFA. Since Russian authorities cannot control movement of their citizens once they are abroad, this story contains so-called white spots for us. For instance, we don’t know for sure if Baku knew that this Russian citizen intended to visit the conflict zone. But the fact is that after D. Askerov was detained in Nagorno-Karabakh, it was Azerbaijani authorities that sent us a copy of his domestic passport. I also cannot state with confidence that D. Askerov was encouraged to ignore Russian MFA’s recommendations. But he crossed the thoroughly guarded Line of Contact somehow, didn’t he? 

If Azerbaijani media, including the infamous paragovernmental internet portal Haqqin, sincerely care about D. Askerov’s fate, they should end the propaganda fuss around his case. It hinders significantly our efforts to better this Russian citizen’s lot in humanitarian aspect,” Artyom Kozhin stated.