The Azerbaijani Consular General to Saint-Petersburg, Gudsi Osmanov, exclusively informed Trend that the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Saint-Petersburg takes all the steps to resolve the registration problems of the Azerbaijanis residing in Russia.
Today some people in Azerbaijan make populist speeches, and create artificial agiotage around the registration of the Azerbaijanis residing in Russia, saying that they are evicted from Russia, but it does not correspond to reality, said Osmanov. According to him, as a Consular for more than one year he observed how Azerbaijanis return to Azerbaijan. These people who left Azerbaijan in 1991-1994, became rich and gained real estate by working in Russia, and now decided to return to the Native Land. The number of such persons is increasing and this tendency will continue, he said.
According to Osmanov, the problem is imposed by the persons who do not get into registration at the necessary time. After the order of the Azerbaijani President On resolving the problems of the Azerbaijanis involved in the commerce on the territory of Russia dated November 22, 2006, the Consular General has strengthened the efforts to carry out elucidative works amongst the Azerbaijanis. According to him, presently the employees of the Consulate General are in the regions of Russia to implement these works in co-operation with the Federal Migration Service.
Today, I will meet nearly 500 Azerbaijanis and attentively study their problems, and by present, I have visited Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Karelia where I met with the administrations of these provinces and Azerbaijanis, the diplomat said. By the end of the year, the Consular general plans to visit 7 more regions of Leningrad province, get familiarized with the problems of the Azerbaijanis and meet with the senior officials of the regions. Presently 2,000-4,000 Azerbaijanis are residing in each of these regions. 30-40% of them are illegal, he said.