The Chair of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic Sahiba Gafarova has sent a letter to the Chair of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin.

Recalling with warmth the official visit of the delegation she had led to the Russian Federation last month and the meetings with the Russian colleagues held during it, Sahiba Gafarova expresses a hope that the visit will contribute substantially to the continued progress of our relations.

Further, it is mentioned in that letter that a member of the State Duma for the ‘United Russia’ Fraction and a member of the Committee for Civil Society Development and the Affairs of Public and Religious Associations Vitaliy Milonov visited illegally the occupied territories of the Azerbaijan Republic and voiced certain provocative thoughts at a meeting with the leader of the local fictitious separatist structure there on 16 October this year.

The letter emphasises that the ostentatious support from a member of the State Duma to the separatist regime caused profound regret and condemnation in Azerbaijan.  

Such conduct of the member of the supreme legislative (representative) agency of the Russian state power defies the spirit of strategic cooperation between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Russian Federation whilst also being discrepant with the high-level interparliamentary ties between the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan and the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

It is then pointed out that anyone’s visit to Highland Garabagh without the permission of the official authorities of the Azerbaijan Republic is a serious breach of the national laws. The illegal acts of V Milonov are categorically unacceptable, especially now that the Azerbaijan Republic is struggling to restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty subject the international laws and, truly crucially, in view of the mediating role the Russian Federation plays in the Highland Garabagh settlement process.

The Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament stresses in her letter the need to take adequate steps to ensure no such illegal visit is allowed from now on.

It is mentioned deploringly, besides, that the Armenian armed forces continue their occupation policy and war crimes hiding behind the ceasefire regime achieved in Moscow recently with the mediation by Russia. The Chair of the Milli Majlis wrote that the Armenian armed forces assaulted appallingly and for the second time the Azerbaijani city of Ganja overnight into the 17th of October, that is, after the humanitarian ceasefire had set in. Noting that the missile attack resulted in  severe civilian casualties, Sahiba Gafarova pointed out that that act of vandalism was a rude violation of the international humanitarian laws and the Geneva Convention alike. At the same time, it did come as a war crime and a crime against humanity.

In the end, Sahiba Gafarova writes that she hopes the international community will not remain indifferent to the terror unleased upon the people of Azerbaijan but will pass an accurate verdict on the acts of the aggressor state.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis