Azerbaijani journalist fired for Nagorno Karabakh related question addressed to Lavrov
ArmInfo. Anar Hasanov, Russia reporter of Azerbaijani channel of Lider TV, was fired from his job after addressing a question about "liberation" of Nagorno Karabakh to Lavrov.
Accordnig Minval, the "recommendation" to quit the journalist's activity in Russia was raised personally by Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia. According to Azerbaijani diplomat, this "provocative" question harmed friendly relations between Russia and Azerbaijan.
To remind, at a conference in Moscow on January 17, when asked whether Russia will keep aloof or interfere in case of an Azeri counter operation in Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he conflict over Karabakh is no longer anything abstract or domestic affair of Azerbaijan,. The Russian minister recalled that that there are several tools for the Karabakh conflict settlement, first of all, the decisions taken at the UN Security Council in the full swing of the conflict and demanded ceasefire. "Since then the demand that the troops should be withdrawn from the occupied territories, but within ruling out any military scenario and within determining the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh has been relevant," Lavrov said, adding that this is fixed in the numerous decisions of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as in the statements and documents adopted and signed by the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As regards the April events, Lavrov stressed that the bloody events in April 2016 caused deep concerns.
"Russia played a crucial role to stop the bloodshed at that time. After the escalation in April 2016, arrangements were reached at the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits, stressing the need to create an investigative mechanism and to increase the number of the OSCE observers on the line of contact. "The need to create an investigative mechanism was also stressed at the Astrakhan meeting of the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia," Lavrov noted, adding that unfortunately this cannot be put in practice yet due to the lack of consensus in the OSCE. "The question about the lack of consensus can be given to the OSCE representatives," he said.