The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has summoned temporary chargé d’affaires of the Russian embassy with regard to deputy of the Russian State Duma Vitaly Milonov’s statements on Azerbaijanis and Nagorno-Karabakh, RIA Novosti reported, citing the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry referred to Milonov’s act as ‘another provocative step on his part’ and emphasized that such actions ‘contradict the high-level relations established between Azerbaijan and Russia’.

In October, Azerbaijan included Milonov in its ‘black list’ for visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The deputy himself told RIA Novosti that he had visited Nagorno-Karabakh for humanitarian purposes. In November, he said that on social networks people of Azerbaijani origin had threatened to settle scores with his family after his visit to Nagorno-Karabakh and that he was planning to address the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.