On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia objected to Azerbaijan over statements it made concerning weekend regional elections in Ukraine claimed by Moscow.
She also accused Armenia of making “unacceptable and harmful” remarks that hurt peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russia’s ties with both nations, which have fought two wars in the three decades since the Soviet Union’s dissolution, have deteriorated, according to Zakharova.
Due to the Ukraine crisis, Moscow is battling to preserve its regional leadership and security guarantor status.
Azerbaijan condemned Russia’s “sham ‘elections’ in certain territories of Ukraine” over the weekend. Russia claimed four partially occupied regions of Ukraine as its own after invading its neighbor last year.
According to Azerbaijan, the Russian vote was illegal since it occurred on internationally recognized Ukrainian territory.
Russia submitted a diplomatic complaint because the statements were “unacceptable to us and do not correspond to the allied nature of relations between our countries,” Zakharova told reporters.
“We proceed from the fact that Baku should treat our country’s territorial integrity with the same respect it expects from us, when it comes to Azerbaijan’s,” she said.
Last week, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of expanding army concentrations along their borders, escalating tensions.
Armenia claims Russia, which has maintained a peacekeeping force since the 2020 war, failed to defend it against Azerbaijani aggression.
Zakharova added that Armenia’s “unfriendly character” hurt the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
The land is officially part of Azerbaijan but is largely occupied by ethnic Armenians who fled Baku in the 1990s.
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