The Kremlin on Monday said Azerbaijan and Russia have entered a “difficult period” in bilateral ties, as Baku told over the weekend that it will “apply to international justice” concerning an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash in Kazakhstan late last year that killed 38 passengers on board.
“Sometimes, it happens that difficult periods occur in the relations of the two countries. Now is one of such periods,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press briefing in Moscow.
“We hope that this period will pass,” Peskov said, noting that “cooperation between the two countries brings mutual benefit,” and that a “solid foundation” is present in bilateral ties.
Last month, Azerbaijan, after the death of its citizens during a police raid in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, cancelled planned cultural events in Russia, saying the decision was made in response to the “targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence against Azerbaijanis based on their ethnicity.”
In this regard, Peskov said that “law-abiding” Azerbaijani citizens in Russia “enjoy well-deserved respect” in the country, and that those who violate Russian laws are “prosecuted according to the law.”
“It is very important for us that Russians are respected in Azerbaijan,” he added.
The spokesman also said investigations on the part of Moscow are continuing concerning the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash in Kazakhstan last December, which resulted in the death of 38 passengers on board.
He said it is Baku’s right if it decides to file a lawsuit against Moscow on the issue in international courts, and that Russia “will wait for official verdicts.”
Peskov’s remarks concerning the issue came as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on Saturday that Baku would “apply to international justice” regarding the plane crash and had also informed Russia of this.
Aliyev further said Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office constantly tries to contact its counterparts from Moscow, but that the response it receives is that the “investigation is ongoing.”
/Argumentum.al
