Russian reporter Anna Sahakyan was banned from entering Azerbaijan to cover Russian president’s visit to Baku.

She was banned because of bearing an Armenian surname, she wrote on Facebook. However, Sahakyan is the surname of her husband, while the reporter herself is of Russian origin.  

In her Facebook message, Anna called on the Azerbaijani authorities not to judge people by their ethnicity.

“May be my words will reach Ilham Aliyev [president of Azerbaijan], whose father’s portrait was hanging on the wall of an office of customs officer who treated me to tea politely, but banned me from crossing the border and offered to change my name and come again,” she wrote.