"Azerbaijan's Russians are always ready to defend their country!" Deputy head of Russian community replies to Anthony Blinken

Anastasia Lavrina, the first deputy chairman of the Russian Community of Azerbaijan, commented on US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's statement regarding the inclusion of several countries, including Azerbaijan, in a certain "list" related to religious freedom. According to Caliber.Az, Lavrina stated that Russians in Azerbaijan are always ready to defend their country.

"I am a Russian Azerbaijani. For 33 years I have been living in the country where the largest Russian community in the South Caucasus is represented, numbering 120,000 ethnic Russians. In 2023, our community celebrated its 30th anniversary. In all these years, there has not been a single recorded case of infringement of rights based on ethnicity or religion in Azerbaijan. We are free to attend church, celebrate our holidays, speak our language, and love our Motherland - Azerbaijan - sincerely," Lavrina said.

"Russians in Azerbaijan are always ready to stand up in defence of their country," she continued. - A perfect example of this is the 44-day Patriotic War in the autumn of 2020 when representatives of all ethnic groups rallied around the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President Ilham Aliyev. Through common efforts, we have restored justice. Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty have finally been restored. Our united people did by their own efforts what neither the OSCE Minsk Group, where, incidentally, the United States of America was also present, nor any international organisation could do.

For more than 30 years, the world turned a blind eye to the ongoing occupation of Azerbaijani territories by neighbouring Armenia. Nor was the international community concerned about the destruction of historical, cultural and religious monuments in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. We are talking not only about mosques, but also about Orthodox churches, and Albanian churches, which the Armenian occupants destroyed or rebuilt.

Smashed walls, heaps of rubble and the only remaining facade of the building - this is all that remains of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, founded in 1894 and located 13 km from the centre of the Khojavand district of Azerbaijan. During the years of occupation, the Armenian armed forces destroyed the shrine, destroying 3 facades and the building was almost totally dismantled.

Another example is the temple of the Russian Orthodox Church located in the village of Talysh in the Terter district of Azerbaijan, next to which the Armenian occupants built a military unit. There are no windows in the church building, the roof has collapsed in several places, and bullet and shell marks are visible on the walls.

Over 400 cultural, historical and religious monuments were ruined in Azerbaijani lands during the entire period of occupation. Out of 67 mosques, 64 were destroyed or significantly damaged and desecrated.

Meanwhile, ancient Azerbaijani historical and cultural monuments located in the territory of modern Armenia suffered a similar fate. At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 300 mosques were registered in Armenia, and nowadays only the Blue Mosque remains partially unharmed, which is presented as 'Persian' as a result of changes in its original features. In the twentieth century, Azerbaijanis were massively deported from Armenia, and all material evidence testifying to the belonging of these lands to Azerbaijan was destroyed".

Anastasia Lavrina stressed that Azerbaijan once came forward with an initiative to restore several Roman catacombs, ancient frescoes, and ancient manuscripts from the Vatican Library.

"There are Orthodox and Albanian churches, synagogues and even an Armenian church on the territory of Azerbaijan itself. Timely restoration and constant care have kept all the buildings in proper condition.

I would like to advise the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, before referring to unverified information prepared by an unknown person, it is better to look at real examples from the life of various ethnic groups represented in the democratic society of Azerbaijan," the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Community said.