165,000 Russians live in Azerbaijan

The ombudsman, Elmira Suleymanova stated at the meeting with representatives of the Russian community, the ombudsman's office said according to Trend.

During the years of its existence the Russian community has been distinguished by its activeness in building up the civil society, the ombudsman noted. After gaining the state independence the democratic legal norms have been restored, legal and political conditions for free use of rights and freedoms for all citizens, irrespective of their nationalities, religion and ethnical origin have been created in Azerbaijan, Suleymanova stressed.

The Russian community chairman, the Azerbaijan MP, Michail Zabelin informed, that for 12 years of its activities the community have been served for preserving the culture, traditions of the Russian community, improvement of the well-being of the people and development of relations. According to him, 165,000 Russians live in Baku and other districts of the country.

He drew the attention of the ombudsman to the necessity of arranging free courses of the Azerbaijani language for the community's representatives for them to actively participate in the socio- political life of Azerbaijan. A number of problems, related to the providing living accommodations for the community's members, to the mass media have been also touched upon at the meeting.