Belarus sees no grounds for not extraditing Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday, RIA Novosti reports.

“What grounds do we have for not handing him over to Azerbaijan? None,” he said at a large press-conference in Minsk.

In his words, Lapshin’s arrest was carried out in accordance with the decision of Interpol. “And according all the laws and procedures, we must hand him over to Azerbaijan. Of course, we can also set him free but this will be incorrect.  We will be treated exactly the same way when we detain someone. Therefore, according to all the agreements, we must hand him over to Azerbaijan,” Lukashenko added.

After his visits to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2011 and 2012, famous blogger Alexander Lapshin was “blacklisted” by Azerbaijan.

In June 2016, however, he paid a visit to Azerbaijan, but with a Ukrainian passport. Subsequently, he issued several articles criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities. Afterward, the Azerbaijani authorities issued an international search for this famous blogger.

On December 15, 2016, he was detained in the Belarus capital city of Minsk, and based on this international search.