Member of Russian Parliament and Deputy Chariman of its Economic Policy Committee Mikhail Delyagin threatened Azerbaijan on March 27 on a discussion on state channel “Rossiya-1”.
Talking about the recent tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, part of which is deployed with Russian peacekeeping contingent, Delyagin argued that Azerbaijan is the side who violates ceasefire, and that it should be punished for it.
This U.S. satellite and Turkish proxy, which we call a state [referring to Azerbaijan], represents a real danger. If we don’t directly and harshly punish Azerbaijan for this, why do we need Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry? We don’t. If people don’t understand words, then maybe they should be treated with actions.
Delyagin then posted a survey on his official Telegram channel, where he asked his followers if they think it’d be normal to “destroy Azerbaijan’s oil industry with a nuclear weapon.”
Delyagin’s remarks and move on Telegram attracted a response from Azerbaijan, which opened a criminal case against Delyagin on three charges, one of which is terrorism, on March 30. The day before Delyagin apologized for his choice of words, which obviously didn’t satisfy the Azerbaijani government.
Russian government also condemned the MP’s threats against Azerbaijan. Spokesperson for Russian President Dmitriy Peskov said that the Russian politicians should avoid making emotional statements about Nagorno-Karabakh, where “Russia is making great efforts to normalize the situation”.
We would urge to control these emotions and refrain from such statements, especially in relation to our partners. Azerbaijan belongs to the category of partner countries, and even more so in conditions when Russia is making very energetic efforts to maintain peace in the Karabakh region and to fulfill all relevant obligations by all parties.
