I watched a vile report, a stand-up of a girl with the logo of the Azerbaijani Baku.tv, which was filmed right at the entrance to our cultural center in Azerbaijan, in Baku, in front of the sign of the Russian House. In the report, the girl shamelessly lies that there is a nest of spies here, a den of separatists. The head of Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation of the Russian Federation), Yevgeny Primakov, wrote this on social media.

“As far as I know, Baku.tv is funded by the Azerbaijani government.

On Monday, we are preparing a lawsuit to protect our business reputation. I would like to hear irrefutable evidence of this slander and lie from the media outlets being funded by the Azerbaijani government. Or refutations and apologies.

Let me remind that the Russian Cultural Center in Azerbaijan operates under an intergovernmental agreement signed between Russia and Azerbaijan, adheres to the established treaties and laws, and operates exclusively in the fields of education, culture, and science. Russian language classes (not espionage) are held there, art, music, exhibitions, concerts are held there, poets come; our Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova was there recently. Now let Baku.tv prove that these activities are espionage, or in some way illegal.

We estimate the probability of our lawsuit being approved at 100%.

P.S. I almost forgot. In Germany, we have won cases on similar topics regarding the work of the Russian House in Berlin. The German media were forced to print refutations. ‘We have experience,’ Primakov added.