Journalist Who Interviewed Karabakh Leader Barred from Entering Azerbaijan

The ban on entering Azerbaijan placed on Ekho Moskvy (“Echo of Moscow”) radio first deputy editor Sergei Buntman (pictured, on the right) can cause nothing but amazement, writes Ekho Moskvy’s editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov (pictured, on the left).

Venediktov is protesting the actions of Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, which included Buntman in the list of those individuals whose visit to Azerbaijan is “extremely undesirable.”

The chief editor of the popular radio station intends to send a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev with the request to reverse this decision.

Venediktov also notes that in the future Ekho Moskvy employees will go wherever their editor sends them, but not where the foreign ministry of another country decides.

Earlier, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Elkhan Polukhov, commenting on Buntman’s visit to Karabakh where he interviewed NKR leader Bako Sahakyan, said:

“In connection with Buntman’s illegal visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, our embassy in Russia was issued an executive order to express our protest and bring the position of Azerbaijan’s leadership to Ekho Moskvy. The very same S. Buntman is already included in the list of those whose visit to Azerbaijan is extremely undesirable.”