The Azerbaijani authorities have officially confirmed that they have a discriminative approach to those Russian citizens visiting Baku who have Armenian surnames or an Armenian origin. The spokesperson for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry Hikmet Hajiyev has responded to the concerns expressed by the Russian foreign ministry, Armenpress informed.

He did not deny that such discrimination exists, justifying their practice with the made-up accusation that the Russian citizens may cause provocations in Azerbaijan.

“We undertake such security steps and we have informed the Russian side about this,” Hajiyev said.