11:31, 20 May 2020

First group of Azerbaijanis leaves Dagestan

120 Azerbaijani citizens who could not leave Dagestan after the border was closed due to coronavirus managed to leave for their homeland.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev discussed the situation in the border regions of Dagestan, where a lot of Azerbaijani citizens gathered aiming to go home.

As of May 11, about 700 Azerbaijani citizens were waiting for the opening of the Russian-Azerbaijani border in the Derbent District of Dagestan.

"120 residents of the neighbouring country are on their way home to Azerbaijan by buses," Fuad Shikhiev, the acting head of the Derbent District, wrote on the Instagram.

The first group of those who left mainly consisted of women with children and adult men, said Gani Panaev, the public figure on Azerbaijanis' matters in Derbent, has reported.

Since April 20, 548 residents of Azerbaijan have returned home from Russia, where they had to stay because of border closure, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has informed.

Let us remind you that Azerbaijani authorities have extended the restriction on border crossing until May 31. In exceptional cases, land crossings can be opened for the Azerbaijani citizens returning to their homeland and for the foreigners leaving the country.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 19, 2020 at 11:58 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Rasul Magomedov

Source: CK correspondent