Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov on Wednesday told RIA Novosti that he had a meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the country, during which they discussed the case of blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was extradited from Minsk upon the request of Baku. 

The latter is expected to meet with the Russian Consul on February 9-10.

“We received a letter or protest from the Russian and Israeli embassies on this issue. The Russian Consul will meet with Lapshin in accordance with the Vienna Convention literally tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The Embassy will have an access to communicating with him. We will decide the mere technical details today. I have already met with Russian Ambassador and this issue was discussed. I don’t see any obstacles here,” the Azerbaijani FM said.

In his words, the Lapshin’s further fate will depend on the completion of the investigation.  “He has been charged with a number of articles of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code. The final decision is the judgment of the court,” he stressed.

“I am surprised and outraged by the excessive politicization of this matter. He is constantly called a blogger. Wouldn’t he be of interest if he were an engineer? He violated the law and a criminal case was thus launched in accordance with a legal substantiation, based on which request was made to Interpol,” he said.