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AzerNEWS Staff

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Azerbaijan is committed to further developing bilateral relations with Russia based on the principles of strategic partnership and alliance, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Rahman Mustafayev said in an interview with RTVI.

Mustafayev said Azerbaijan’s position was reaffirmed by President Ilham Aliyev during telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 11 and July 28.

“Baku is committed to further developing bilateral cooperation with Moscow based on the principles of strategic partnership and alliance,” Mustafayev said.

However, he noted that advancing allied cooperation and implementing the provisions of the Declaration on Allied Interaction signed on February 22, 2022, which forms a foundation of bilateral relations, is difficult amid what he described as an extremely negative information environment targeting Azerbaijan.

According to the ambassador, this environment is being deliberately created by some Russian experts, bloggers and journalists through social media platforms and media outlets.

“Today, at least 96 Russian news portals, Telegram and YouTube channels, as well as other media outlets with audiences numbering in the millions, periodically promote narratives portraying Azerbaijan as an ‘unfriendly’ state toward Russia,” Mustafayev said, adding that the number of such platforms is increasing every day.

The Azerbaijani diplomat said Baku had raised the issue through diplomatic channels and brought specific examples of what it considers insulting and provocative statements targeting Azerbaijan, its people and its leadership to the attention of the Russian side.

According to Mustafayev, such statements undermine the strategic partnership and allied relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.

“We consider this situation completely abnormal and unacceptable and expect a principled response and concrete steps from Moscow to rectify it,” the ambassador said.