Russia regrets Azerbaijani decision to cancel cultural events after death of 2 citizens

Russia on Monday regretted Azerbaijan's decision to cancel planned cultural events involving Russian institutions after the death of its citizens during a police raid in the city of Yekaterinburg last week.

“We are interested in further developing our good relations with Azerbaijan,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists at a briefing.

Peskov said a conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev is not on the agenda, and that Moscow regretted Baku's recent decision to cancel cultural events in the country involving Russian state and private entities.

“It is important to continue work to explain the reasons and nature of the events that, in the opinion of the Azerbaijani side, served as the reason for such demarches,” he added.

Azerbaijan's Culture Ministry announced on Sunday the cancelation of the cultural events, saying the decision was made in response to the “targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence against Azerbaijanis based on their ethnicity.”

Earlier, the country's Foreign Ministry summoned Moscow's charge d'affaires, protesting raids carried out by Russian security forces a day earlier, during which it said two Azerbaijanis were killed.

According to the statement, several others were seriously injured and nine were arrested. The Foreign Ministry said Baku expects the issue to be investigated and all perpetrators of the violence to be brought to justice “as soon as possible.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed Azerbaijan's protest, saying those held are Russians suspected of serious crimes.

Meanwhile, the Russian Investigative Committee's branch in the Sverdlovsk region said it had stopped the activities of an “ethnic criminal group” suspected of a number of murders and attempted murders in Yekaterinburg in 2001, 2010, and 2011.

The committee on Monday said six Russian citizens were arrested as part of the investigation surrounding the incident, also confirming that two of the defendants died, one due to a heart attack, according to preliminary information.

“Based on the results of the forensic medical examination, final conclusions will be made about the causes of death of the defendants,” the statement said, adding that 14 searches, 11 inspections of vehicles and non-residential premises, and 10 witness interrogations were conducted as part of the case.