No consular assistance has yet been provided to Russian citizens detained in Azerbaijan on 30 June 2025, said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Solovyov Live programme.
“I have just been in contact with our ambassador. He said that, unfortunately, consular access has not yet been granted to those detained, and now, as we have already heard, to those arrested. <…> Our diplomats in Baku are working, we are working here with our Azerbaijani colleagues through Smolenskaya Square — the Azerbaijani Embassy,” Maria Zakharova said.
The representative of the Russian diplomatic corps noted that relations between the two states are of a strategic partnership nature, but there are forces that cause ‘resentment and a desire to interfere.’
‘Beyond the formal assessment, there is a deeper meaning to these relations, which is our historical period of commonality, when we were part of a single state,’ Zakharova said.
Dmitry Kiselyov, head of the Russia Today media holding, also commented on this issue. He stated that the Azerbaijani government had no actual complaints about the professional activities of Sputnik Azerbaijan journalists.
Earlier, Maria Zakharova stated that Russia had never refused trade and economic ties with the United States.
