Russian MFA commends excellent conduct of presidential election in Azerbaijan

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has praised the excellent conduct of the presidential election in Azerbaijan, according to the information posted on the ministry’s website on Friday, Azernews reports.

Russia expressed its commitment to further strengthening its alliance and strategic partnership with the Republic of Azerbaijan, along with active collaboration on international and regional issues, including the implementation of trilateral agreements aimed at normalizing Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

The ministry noted that 790 international observers monitored the election in Azerbaijan. The Russian Federation sent 148 representatives through the Federal Assembly, the Executive Committee and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA), the SCO, and the OSCE ODIHR.

CIS Secretary General Sergey Lebedev emphasized the election's compliance with democratic principles and highlighted the high voter turnout.

Grigory Karasin, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, described the voting process as held in a favorable atmosphere with competitive alternatives. Zhang Ming, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), praised the openness and transparency of the election.

“Against this background, the assessments from Western countries and international structures controlled by them looked extremely biased, which, as we saw, were initially extremely biased towards the presidential election in Azerbaijan and were practicing pre-approved methods to discredit the electoral process," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.