West trying to exclude Russia from Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process, says Russia’s Foreign Ministry

Russia sees active efforts by certain forces to sow discord in relations between Moscow and Baku, stated Dmitry Masyuk, Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s CIS Department.

“Theories are being circulated about last December’s Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash, which, among other things, led to the closure of the Russian House in Baku,” the diplomat noted.

The Russian side has consistently conveyed its principled approach to Azerbaijan to neutralize the damage caused to relations.

“Today, they are trying to accuse us of exerting pressure on ethnic Azerbaijanis in Russia—related to the recent arrest of Russian citizens suspected of committing serious crimes in Yekaterinburg. We have consistently communicated our principled stance to our Azerbaijani counterparts to mitigate the damage to our bilateral relations. We expect that the Azerbaijani leadership will also follow this line,” Masyuk said.

“The West is trying to push Russia out of the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process. It is pressuring the parties to quickly sign a peace agreement,” the diplomat noted.