Russian ambassador summoned to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, handed protest note

Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Yevdokimov was summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on July 6, where he was handed a note of protest.

The Azerbaijani news agency APA reported that during the meeting, the Azerbaijani side lodged a strong protest over a drone strike on a SOCAR filling station in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region on the evening of July 5.

According to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, this was not the first such incident. The ministry said other SOCAR facilities in Ukraine, including a gas distribution compressor station and an oil depot in Odesa, had previously come under military attack, causing significant material damage and injuring company employees.

During the meeting, the Azerbaijani side stressed that, despite previous warnings, the continued occurrence of such incidents indicates that the attacks are deliberate. It also noted that several air strikes had damaged the Azerbaijani Embassy in Kyiv and the country’s honorary consulate in Kharkiv.

The importance of complying with international obligations regarding the protection of diplomatic and consular premises under the Vienna Conventions was also emphasised.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called on the Russian side to conduct a comprehensive investigation into all of the incidents, provide clarifications regarding what had happened, and uphold its international obligations concerning the protection of civilian infrastructure and diplomatic missions.