Azerbaijan removes Russian blogger from 'black list'

A citizen of Russian Federation, photographer and blogger Vladimir Kezling sent an official letter to the Consulate General ofAzerbaijan in St. Petersburg asking to removehis name from the list of foreign citizens who illegally visited occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on December 26.

In his letter,Kezling reaffirmed his full respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, its laws and regulations. The photographernoted that his visit to the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijanwithout the consent of the Azerbaijani governmentdid not have any political purpose.

Moreover, Kezling mentioned that his visit in no way served for the promotion of illegal regime established in the occupied territories andapologized to the government and people of Azerbaijan for this unauthorized visit.

The blogger's appeal was considered and the decision was made to remove his name from the Foreign Ministry's ‘black list'.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan are considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in the ministry's 'black list'. The list of persona non grata banned from visiting Azerbaijan includes MPs, media persons, businessmen, entertainers, and other persons,who violated Azerbaijan's borders and showed disrespect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

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