Ruslan Kurbanov: Azerbaijan checks the strength of Russian State

The detentions of relatives of the leaders of the Federal Lezgin National-Cultural Autonomy (FLNCA) are another attempt of the official Baku to find a lever for putting pressure on the leadership of the FLNCA, and on Russia as a whole. The detentions and continued custody are accompanied by human rights violations and violation of international agreements, said the participants of the press conference held in Moscow.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan had detained Russian citizens Djavid Babaev, the head of the company for manufacture of petroleum machinery, and Tariel Sarkarov, one of the founders of the Moscow Regional Branch of the FLNCA Along with them, Eldar Mamedov, a citizen of Azerbaijan, was detained.

Amil Sarkarov, Tariel's brother, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that neither the Russian advocates hired by relatives nor the officials of the Russian Consulate in Azerbaijan had been admitted to the detainees.

Maxim Shevchenko has treated the incident as a "political circus" and "frank lawlessness." He also noted the coincidence of the detentions with the visit of the President of Russia to Baku, which, in his opinion, was "a serious diplomatic mistake" of the Azerbaijani party.

According to Ruslan Kurbanov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a member of the Expert Council under the Council of Muftis of Russia, the reasons for the arrest of the above three persons in Azerbaijan was the active position of the FLNCA, its exit to the international level, as well as the call made by FLNCA activists to all the Lezgin organizations of the Russian Federation to unite.