Presidential Assistant Hikmat Hajiyev comments on RIA Novosti's distorted and biased report

"On 21 May 2020, the state news agency of the Russian Federation RIA Novosti circulated a distorted and biased report about the “inauguration” of the so-called “president” of the illegal regime created in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia. RIA Novosti provided extensive information about the illegal regime, but shied away from publishing statements of official government agencies of the Republic of Azerbaijan or the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on the so-called elections and the “inauguration” ceremony," Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told AZERTAC as he commented on a report published by “RIA Novosti” under the heading “Президент непризнанной Нагорно-Карабахской республики вступил в должность” (President of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic takes office).

Hikmat Hajiyev said Armenia had occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent districts. As a result of ethnic cleansing, more than a million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and internally displaced persons. Armenia has created a criminal regime in the occupied territories.

The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders are recognized by all countries of the world, including the Russian Federation.

This position is also enshrined in relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. The so-called “presidential election” in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan illegally organized on 31 March and 14 April 2020 are not recognized and condemned by the international community, including the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, among them Russia, as well as the Non-Aligned Movement, the OSCE, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, the Turkic Council and other international organizations, and its “results” have no legal force whatsoever.

The Presidential assistant said: “We would like to inform RIA Novosti that the expressions used in the text, such as the “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” or the “president”, the “Central Election Commission” of the “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” are false and nothing other than an attempt to promote an illegal regime created as a result of occupation and bloody ethnic cleansing. This report presents the name of the historically Azerbaijani city of Shusha in a distorted form “Shushi”. The city of Shusha was occupied in 1992.

“This is not the first time when RIA Novosti, a state news agency, has demonstrated a contradiction with the official position of Russia as the co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group, pursues such a biased editorial policy. The circulation of such biased news contradicts the spirit of strategic partnership and friendly relations existing between Azerbaijan and Russia, hurts the feelings of the Azerbaijani people, in particular the internally displaced persons. At the present time, when misinformation and fake news are widespread, we urge RIA Novosti to amend the news report. At the same time, we would like to hope that RIA Novosti will be guided by honesty from political, legal and terminological points of view, as well as objective facts and impartiality, when circulating reports related to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the future,” Hikmat Hajiyev said.

News.Az 

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