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Statement from Trend regarding remarks by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

Azerbaijan Materials 16 June 2018 19:51 (UTC +04:00)
Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, made groundless accusations against Azerbaijan-based Trend news agency during a briefing held June 15.
Statement from Trend regarding remarks by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 16

Trend:

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, made groundless accusations against Azerbaijan-based Trend news agency during a briefing held June 15.

Trend news agency voices protest against such a statement by Zakharova.

It should be noted that earlier, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Artem Kozhin, responding to a question of Trend, said that the statements of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are nonconstructive.

"In general, loud statements that do not fit onto the appropriate rails, in particular laid by the OSCE, are probably not constructive," he said.

This situation caused unambiguous assessments in Russian and Armenian media outlets.

Trend published its official statement June 4 over the accusations against the news agency.

Heads of over 20 Azerbaijani media outlets sent an appeal to the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova.

Regarding yesterday's remarks by Zakharova, Trend considers it necessary to remind her that after a briefing on June 1, several phone conversations took place between the staff of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Trend reporter to find out the reason of distorting Kozhin’s response in the transcript, published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 1.

Trend was extremely surprised by Zakharova's unawareness of what was happening in the department she leads.

Given that the reason of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the Armenian aggression, it looks extremely strange and outrageous that Zakharova called Trend correspondent’s question a statement. The wording used by the correspondent completely reflects the essence of the conflict.

It turns out that Zakharova does not agree with the wording "illegal regime" and "occupied territories" in the correspondent’s question.

How can Russia act as a mediator in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict if the spokesperson of its Foreign Ministry doesn’t recognize occupants as occupants and doesn’t consider the separatist regime as illegal?

Trend believes that such a position and such statements of some Russian Foreign Ministry representatives do not contribute to the conflict’s settlement and add fuel to the flames, thereby in fact supporting the occupation policy of Armenia.

Trend expresses regret that the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country, refuses to answer to the question of the journalist of the country that was subjected to aggression.

It is outrageous that Zakharova has accused Trend correspondent of incompetence. It is especially outrageous to hear that from department head of the Foreign Ministry, which openly distorts the official transcript.

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