Azerbaijani publication Minval Politika has started using historical or alternative names—such as Königsberg instead of Kaliningrad, and Orinbor instead of Orenburg—for Russian cities, following the scandal surrounding a report by the TASS news agency.

The reason is that the Russian media had used the Armenian name “Stepanakert” in their articles instead of the Azerbaijani “Khankendi” regarding the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Minval Politika Telegram channel had published materials in which the aforesaid alternative place names were deliberately used. Thus, the headlines of the publications on Friday read: “Russia has deployed S-400 and strike systems in Königsberg”, “Bundeswehr general: NATO will destroy Königsberg.” And in parentheses, the editors note that the official name is Kaliningrad.

Similarly, in one article, Orenburg is called Orinbor, and in another, the Volga is referred to as Itil, the old Turkic name for this river.

Earlier, the TASS news agency had changed the title of its article, replacing the word “Stepanakert” with “Khankendi,” after the Azerbaijani foreign ministry was outraged. Baku demanded an apology and explanation, otherwise threatening to restrict TASS’ activities in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan MFA demands TASS news agency of Russia apologize for using name ‘Stepanakert’