Edward Nalbandian on Lapshin’s extradition

Extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin by Belarus to Azerbaijan will negatively impact those two states and not only in terms of reputation, Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia  told at the National Assembly during parliament-government question and answer session.

“Our public’s resentment is fully understandable… Azerbaijan aims to prevent people from visiting Nagorno Karabakh and everyone understands this, everyone’s reaction is about this, despite the fact that the justifications for Lapshin’s extradition had other formulations. But the so-called “Azerbaijan’s black list” containing hundreds of names from dozens of countries, including well-known, prominent personalities, even state officials, foreign ministers, speaks about itself,”  FM Nalbandian said.

The Minister is convinced this case will not become a precedent and people’s flows to Artsakh will not be stopped by this act. “People’s flows have increased and will continue in the same way. Naturally, we have taken measures in this direction and will do the same in the future as well, but I don’t think we should announce how we do or what we will do,” Nalbandian said, adding that Azerbaijan appears in a deeper and deeper isolation.