BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1. The perpetrators of violence against Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg must be brought to justice, Major General Vladimir Timoshenko, a member of the Public Association “Organization of Veterans of War, Labor and Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, ex-deputy of the Azerbaijani Parliament, said, Trend reports.
"We express indignation in connection with the provocation of the special services of Russia against citizens of Azerbaijani nationality, which took place on June 27 in the city of Yekaterinburg. “Valiant” law enforcers, simultaneously, at six o'clock in the morning, broke the doors of 10 apartments of our compatriots and in front of their wives and children, brutally beat innocent people for more than an hour. As a result of this provocation, 2 people were killed and more than 10 were injured and arrested. The fate of some of them is still unknown," he said.
Timoshenko noted that the explanations of Russian officials regarding the barbaric lawlessness created were surprising, to say the least.
“Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Petr Tolstoy has once again demonstrated his Nazi nature by declaring that these actions are purely an internal matter of Russia”, he said.
According to Timoshenko, the incident, of course, caused protests in Azerbaijan and will negatively affect the traditional relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation.
“The public association ”Organization of Veterans of War, Labor and Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan" believes that an open investigation should be conducted immediately on this case, and those responsible for the violation of legal norms and violence should be brought to justice. At the same time, we consider it appropriate to draw the attention of the Russian public to the recent pejorative attitude of some official structures of the Russian Federation towards diaspora organizations and ethnic minorities. This is also reflected in the Russian media. Thus, during this year, there were forceful attacks on citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan," Timoshenko said.
He emphasized that the meaning of such essentially anti-Russian actions is twofold.
"First, to purge Russia of migrants by discrediting them, direct intimidation, which contradicts the official state migration policy; second, to break relations with the CIS countries. The latter seems implausible. However, implicitly but purposefully, certain political circles in Russia are working to alienate it from the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain these cruel, senseless actions of the security services. It is obvious that such a policy is absolutely not in Russia's true interests and can only be justified by its enemies," he added.
On June 27 at about 5 a.m. Russia's FSS officers conducted operations at various addresses in the city of Yekaterinburg, where members of the Safarov family, Russian citizens born in the Agdam district of Azerbaijan, live. During the operations conducted by the FSB officers, brothers Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov were killed, and 8 people, including the brother of the killed, Bekir Safarov, received bodily injuries of various degrees of severity.
The General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan announced that a criminal case has been opened on the fact of torture and premeditated murder with particular cruelty of citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan and persons of Azerbaijani origin in the Russian Federation.