Azernews.Az

BAKU – An executive of Russia’s Echo of Moscow radio station has been declared "persona non grata" in Azerbaijan after visiting the Armenia-occupied Nagorno Karabakh region without Baku’s consent, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s spokesman has said.

Elkhan Polukhov said that Sergei Buntman, first assistant editor-in-chief of the radio station, paid an unauthorized "business trip" to Nagorno Karabakh. Though the planned visit had angered Baku, the broadcaster did not back down from its plans. Buntman not only visited the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh republic, but also interviewed its leader Bako Saakyan and Vazgen Mikaelyan, the "mayor" of Stepanakert (Khankandi), the rebel region’s center.

The recordings of the interviews with the separatist leaders remain posted on Echo of Moscow’s website.

He added that the Azerbaijani embassy in Russia has been instructed to express Baku’s protest over the illegal visit to Echo of Moscow’s executives.

Nagorno Karabakh has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a war that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted up to one million Azerbaijanis from their homes. Years of OSCE-brokered peace talks have brought few tangible results.