The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry declared five Russian State Duma
deputies persona non gratae for monitoring the elections in the
breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, RIA Novosti reports, citing the
press-secretary of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Elkhan Pulukhov.
According to Pulkhov, the deputies are: Constantine Zatulin, Igor
Chernyshov, Kiril Cherkasov, Tatyana Volozhinskaya and Maksim
Mishetsko.
Pulukhov said that the list may grow. He added that if the deputies
acknowledge that their monitoring was of “malicious intent” the
measure will be lifted.
The parliamentary elections in Nagorno-Karabakh were held on May 23rd.
The Azerbaijani Central Electoral Commission described the elections
as illegal and said that they may harm the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement process.
