Azerbaijan is not always as tactful as Russia tries to be. Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots of the Russian State Duma, stated this in a telephone interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Let me remind [you] that when, during the escalation of the situation in Karabakh, Azerbaijan shot down a [Russian military] helicopter, and then it was considered a mistake, and then the officers of our peacekeeping forces were shot dead from an ambush position, Azerbaijan, of course, admitted its guilt, but at the same time there were no consequences for those who shot them, just as there were no consequences for the scoundrel [i.e. Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov] who, as we know, many years ago, during events with NATO, killed an Armenian officer [i.e. Gurgen Margaryan] [in his sleep] with an axe at night in Hungary,” Zatulin emphasized.

The Russian politician recalled that Ramil Safarov, who committed this monstrous crime, subsequently became a national hero of Azerbaijan by the latter’s current president.

“So now we see an attitude on the part of Russia—a desire to somehow preserve it. On the other hand, periodically, along with a desire to use relations with Russia, amid the recent [Azerbaijani] plane crash, not necessarily at the hands of the Azerbaijani president himself, Russophobia developed in Azerbaijani society, our Russian House [in Azerbaijani capital Baku] was banned, etc., etc.

Such outbreaks are typical. And I can agree with you in some respects. Of course, Azerbaijan today is significantly less dependent on relations with Russia, as it continues to ‘swim’ in the euphoria of achieving its objectives in Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Russian lawmaker noted.