Azernews.Az

The Russian ambassador in Baku Vasiliy Istratov has moved to alleviate tensions caused by the invitation of representatives of the self-proclaimed republic operating in the Armenia-occupied territories to an event in Moscow that angered the Azerbaijani government.
"The invitation of the separatist Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh regime's representatives cannot be construed as Moscow's questioning Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," Istratov told the press.
The international conference entitled "After Kosovo: The commonwealth of unrecognized states on the road to recognition", was recently held by the Institute of CIS States headed by the first deputy chairman of State Duma (parliament) Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots Konstantin Zatulin. Russian officials attended the event as well. The embassy of Azerbaijan early last week forwarded a protest note to the Russian Foreign Ministry condemning the illegitimate actions by the lawmaker.
The ambassador said he had no firsthand information about his government's reaction to the protest and was informed about it from the local media.
"The note was not forwarded to Russia through us. As far as I know, the Institute of CIS States is an independent organization. MP Konstantin Zatulin had extended invitations not as an MP but as the head of the Institute," he said.
Baku's strongly-worded note said such actions by a representative of the neighboring country's legislative authority and deputy head of a parliamentary committee were unacceptable. It said further that the invitation of Russian Foreign Ministry and city officials to the conference was not in line with the spirit of strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia reflected in the concluded agreements and other political and legal documents. The note requested that the Russian government provide an explanation concerning the conduct of the conference and prevent repetition of the developments.
The organizer of the Moscow event reacted to the protest note as well. The Institute's deputy director Vladimir Zharikin told the Baku-based Lider TV channel that the participation of the self-styled republic's representatives at a conference aiming to study situation in the region should not be interpreted as recognition of the entity.
"This is a misunderstanding. Our institute is a non-governmental organization researching the CIS, and we take interest in what goes on in Upper Garabagh and around it. We merely tried to study the situation at that conference. We did not pass any statements or give any assessment to the developments, and no views were expressed concerning either of the sides' being right or wrong," Zharikin said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war over the mountainous region of Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan's internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but the OSCE-brokered peace talks have been fruitless so far.