Azerbaijan, Baku, July 2 / Trend, S.Agayeva /
If the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry receives an appeal from the Russian daily Izvestia, the country's relevant agencies will review it, Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told Trend.
Azerbaijan will act further in accordance with the decision to be taken in this regard, he added.
"Izvestia is one of the oldest Russian publications, and we would believe that the newspaper will be able to maintain its image of an impartial media publication," Polukhov said.
Editor-in-chief of Izvestia Alexander Malyutin intends to talk with the Azerbaijani authorities, who, he thinks, are going to include the publication's journalist preparing reportage on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to a "black list" on entry into the country.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has included Izvestia newspaper journalist Yuri Snigirev in the list of persona-non-grata.
"Statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry (regarding "Izvestia" correspondent) arouses pity, because the measures that it wants to take against the journalist, hampers fulfilling tasks he was entrusted," Malyutin told RIA Novosti.
In late May, Deputy Chief Editor of the Russian radio station "Echo of Moscow" Sergei Buntman was banned to enter Azerbaijan. He interviewed the separatist leader Bako Saakyan. The Azerbaijani authorities stated that Buntman paid "illegal visit to Azerbaijan's territory under Armenian occupation".
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.