Russian expert: Provocational remarks against Azerbaijan on TV were organized by billionaire Vardanyan

The remarks delivered during the Russian “Great Game” talk show on the state tv-channel stand in stark contrast to the position of President Vladimir Putin and his government.

As APA reports, the director of the Russian Institute for Political Research, Sergey Markov gave this response.

"It is a well-known fact that he [Vardanyan] travelled to Azerbaijani territory and became a “state minister” within the separatist occupational regime there. However, he is a Russian billionaire and has many of his people in the Russian media, including on TV channels. Among those [media outlets] are Russians, who have a radical pro-Armenian position. One such person is Artem Sheinin, the host of the talk show on [Russian state TV channel] “First Channel”. Of course, such speeches sow seeds of hostility between Russia and Azerbaijan, which are friendly countries. Such statements must be stopped. I think that Azerbaijan should strongly raise the issue of suspending anti-Azerbaijani activities inside Vardanyan’s network. Vardanyan has already renounced his Russian citizenship, now he receives more support from enemies of Russia - France and the US. Therefore now would be a good time to put an end to Vardanyan’s anti-Azeri network in the Russian media. Because this network has actually started to oppose Russia’s state interests, trying to spoil Moscow’s relations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye", the political expert said.

Additionally, Markov shared that supporters of Putin’s policy of enhancing Russia’s friendship with Azerbaijan were artificially removed from the country’s primary state TV channel.