Azerbaijan was included in the list of safe travel destinations for employees of the Russian Interior Ministry, including civil servants, to go on vacation. Such an order was issued by the Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the Association of Russian Tour Operators said. The same statement was made by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
The list approved by Kolokoltsov includes Azerbaijan, Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Cuba, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Maria Zakharova, commenting on the inclusion of Azerbaijan into the US State Department list of countries where there is threat of terrorism, stressed that only people who had never visited Baku and have no idea about Azerbaijan's culture and political realities could make such a decision.
"As a person who repeatedly and with great pleasure visited Azerbaijan, I can say that it's complete nonsense - warn tourists from visiting Azerbaijan," the diplomat stressed.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that Azerbaijan was the organizer of many international cultural and sports events.
President of the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha Anti-Terrorism Unit, Sergey Goncharov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Azerbaijan was chosen as a travel destination for security officials in the South Caucasus because of the strong security system in the republic.
"If the North Caucasus, despite all the current calm, make security officials feel insecure, then Azerbaijan is the most peaceful republic in the South Caucasus today, in which there are no terrorist attacks and financial and political stability has been established. Vladimir Kolokoltsev made an absolutely reasonable decision that would serve an example for other countries in maintaining the order," he said.
According to the Professor of the Western University Fikret Sadykhov, the statement that Azerbaijan is unsafe for US tourists is unreasonable and far from reality.
"Among many CIS republics, Azerbaijan is characterized by stability and security. Many political and public figures, as well as tourists have repeatedly said about it. Therefore, the current statements of the press service of Russia's Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Internal Affairs indicate the accounting of the actual situation," he explained.
According to the expert, the flow of tourists to Azerbaijan has increased significantly and reaches hundreds of thousands of people annually. "Representatives of various regions - CIS, Middle East, South-East Asia, come here. The most favorable conditions are created here for tourists. Therefore I think that this completely coincides with Azerbaijan's position," the professor of the Western University noted.
"We highly appreciate this assessment of our domestic political situation and the level of security that creates a favorable tourists' stays in Azerbaijan," Fikret Sadykhov concluded.
