The Russian Foreign Ministry responded to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's emotional response to the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's remarks on the foreign mercenaries in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Thursday.
Surprised by that answer, the source reminded the exact quote of Lavrov's interview to "Kommersant" newspaper on November 3. "We are, of course, concerned about the internationalization of the Karabakh conflict and the involvement of militants from the Middle East. We have repeatedly called on foreign players to use their opportunities to prevent the transfer of mercenaries, whose number, according to available data, is already approaching 2 thousand in the conflict zone.
This topic was particularly raised by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on October 27 and regular contacts with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. We persistently advance our position on various issues". Lavrov had said.
"As you can see, there is no reproach in the comments against either Azerbaijan or any other country", The TASS interlocutor said. In an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, Aliyev, commenting on the Russian Foreign Minister's words about mercenaries, had expressed sincere regret that "high-ranking officials of countries that should be neutral, acting on the basis of their OSCE mandate, use unconfirmed information". Aliyev had stressed that Azerbaijan has no mercenaries and there is no evidence that foreign fighters are fighting on the side of Azerbaijan.
The Russian side supposes that the aides of the President of Azerbaijan showed him another material or presented their comment.
