YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Russia is against the extradition of famous Russian blogger Alexander Lapshin from Belarus to Azerbaijan, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov  told a press conference on January 17.

“We oppose the criminalization of any individual’s or reporter’s visit to any location of any region. We also oppose the extradition of arrested Russian citizens in any country to third countries. We have contacted Mr. Lapshin through the consul. We know that he is also an Israeli citizen and Israeli diplomats have also contacted him. We will take every measures to settle this situation by fully respecting the rights of the Russian citizen”, Lavrov said, adding they maintain contact with Lapshin.

Belarus police arrested Lapshin on December 15, 2016 in Minsk. Lapshin resides in Moscow and writes for the famous Russian Travel Blog. He is wanted by Azerbaijan for visiting Nagorno Karabakh in 2011, 2012 and 2016, and criticizing Azerbaijan’s policy in his blog.