YEREVAN, JULY 5, ARMENPRESS. Russia urged the Azerbaijani leadership to stop the discriminatory attitude towards the Russian citizens with Armenian surnames visiting Azerbaijan, TASS reports.

“We have to affirm that Russian citizens arriving in Azerbaijan are really subjected to discrimination on the basis of ethnic principle. We continue demanding to stop this annoying discriminatory action which is not in accordance with the friendly relations between the two countries. We will undoubtedly draw conclusions from the existing situation”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry informed that during 2017, 25 Russian citizens were banned to enter Azerbaijan. They were waited for a few hours, in some cases without food, water and medical assistance, and then they were sent back at their own expenses. The reason was their Armenian surnames, however, there have been cases when ‘people with Russian surnames, names were questioned for revealing their having Armenian ancestors’.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said they have repeatedly demanded to stop such action, however, no sufficient response has been received.