The head of Rossotrudnichestvo denied the involvement of the "Russian House" in the mailing about rallies in his support
Calls to go to a rally to defend the "Russian House" project controlled by Rossotrudnichestvo in Baku, which are sent out allegedly on behalf of the center, are a "dirty provocation." This statement was made by the head of the federal agency, Yevgeny Primakov, who is under EU sanctions. Let us recall that the Azerbaijani authorities recently sent the Russian side an official notification about the termination of Rossotrudnichestvo's activities in the country.
"Dear ones, this is a provocation. A rather dirty provocation by some scoundrels. We have never called and do not call anyone to rallies," the head of Rossotrudnichestvo wrote in a Telegram channel.
According to him, such measures are being taken in order to present the "Russian House" in Baku as "some kind of conspirators." Primakov emphasized that the situation around the institution is being escalated to the limit.
Recently, Baku.tv, financed by the Azerbaijani government, accused the Russian House of spying, calling it a "hotbed of separatism and a nest of espionage." The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed bewilderment to Ambassador to Moscow Rakhman Mustafayev over a series of anti-Russian publications in Azerbaijani media. Then, Russian Ambassador to Baku Mikhail Yevdokimov was summoned to the Azerbaijani diplomatic mission due to publications related to the crash of the AZAL plane near Aktau.
In addition, State Duma deputy Nikolay Valuev was banned from entering Azerbaijan - he was included in the list of "undesirable persons" in the country. Baku emphasized that the politician made offensive statements while commenting on Azerbaijan's decision to close the Russian House.
Tensions between Baku and Moscow arose after the high-profile air crash that occurred on December 25 last year. An Azerbaijani passenger airliner Embraer 190, flying from Baku to Grozny, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau. It is known that there were 67 people on board, including 42 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 of Russia, 6 of Kazakhstan and 3 of Kyrgyzstan. 29 passengers survived. The official causes of the crash have not yet been announced, but the dominant version is that the plane came under fire from Russian air defense systems during an attack by Ukrainian drones on the territory of Chechnya. This is the opinion of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, in connection with which he demands that Russia admit guilt, punish the perpetrators and pay compensation. On February 4, the Reuters news agency, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government, reported that Baku has evidence of the downing of the Embraer airliner by the Russian Pantsir air defense system, namely a fragment of a missile. Recently it became known that the Azerbaijani authorities intend to file a lawsuit in an international court regarding the plane crash.
