Relatives of convicted former Karabakh state minister, former Russian citizen, and billionaire Ruben Vardanyan reported that he was prevented from completing his appeal to Azerbaijan's Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva. During a telephone conversation with his family on March 13, the call was forcibly terminated, preventing him from delivering his public message.
Azerbaijan has been outraged by a statement by Russian TV presenter and propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, in which he allowed for the possibility of Russia supporting the Lezgin movement in Azerbaijan.
Critics saw these words as calls to incite ethnic hatred and an encroachment on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. On the air of his program "Full Contact", Solovyov, speaking about the length of the border between Moscow and Baku and the situation of Lezgins in Azerbaijan, stated the possibility of "fighting for their rights and fully supporting the movement." In Baku, such statements were assessed as interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan and actions that undermine interethnic harmony in the country.
Earlier, Azerbaijani MP Rasim Musabekov said that the Russian army, which is "a gathering of prison criminals, will be reduced to scraps" if the "SVO" is carried out on the territory of his country.