Azerbaijan safeguards citizens from potential deployment to Ukraine   Statement by Foreign Ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has successfully intervened to prevent its citizens detained in Chechnya from being sent to war in Ukraine.

Following reports of the arrest of Elkhan Akbar Shirinov (born 1975), Vugar Nazim Maharramov (born 1982), and Nihad Tafdig Rzayev (born 2004), the Azerbaijani government swiftly issued a formal note to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and engaged in negotiations to secure their return, Caliber.Az reports.

Aykhan Hajizada, spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed that the embassy made contact with the detained individuals. As a result of these efforts, the citizens were safely returned to Azerbaijan on September 21 via land at a border checkpoint with Russia.

Reports had emerged about a month earlier, indicating that the three Azerbaijani nationals were detained on charges of violating Russian migration laws, with allegations that Shirinov and Maharramov were participating in military exercises in Grozny, possibly in preparation for deployment to Ukraine.

By Vafa Guliyeva