Russia & CIS

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have visited the detainees captured in relation to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Oil fell 1 percent on Monday as markets opened following western air strikes in Syria over the weekend, while a rise in U.S. drilling for new production also dragged on prices.

The Senate of the U.S. State of Arizona adopts a proclamation expressing firm support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

If the vagaries of weather and rocket science do not intervene, the most ambitious search for alien worlds around the brightest stars in the sky will begin on Monday with the launch of Nasa’s newest planet-hunting spacecraft.

My Step initiative leader, opposition Civil Contract Party member and National Assembly (NA) “Way Out” (Yelk) Faction head Nikol Pashinyan, announced during Sunday’s rally at France Square in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan that the first phase of their plan has been completed, and therefore they will start nonviolent civil disobedience.

As a response to US sanctions, Russian MPs suggested Russian employers should not hire US citizens and citizens of the countries, who supported the imposition of sanctions against Russia. The draft law about Russia's response to US sanctions was published on the website of the lower house of the parliament. The prohibition to hire US employees, the authors of the document wrote, may affect even "highly qualified specialists."According to Russian MPs, such a move is to "protect the rights and freedoms of Russians, as well as interests and security of the Russian Federation" after the introduction of new sanctions against Russian companies, businessmen and heads of state-run corporations.In another initiative, Russian MP suggest restricting the activities of American auditors, as well as legal and consulting companies "to ensure state and municipal needs, as well as the needs of certain types of legal entities."The above-mentioned and other restrictions will affect companies that remain under the jurisdiction of the United States, as well as the companies, in which more than 25% belong to American legal entities. In addition, the measures will be taken against the companies from the countries that joined the actions of the US authorities and imposed economic sanctions on certain sectors of the Russian economy, Russian companies and individuals.The above-mentioned draft law provides for measures relating to services and goods from the United States of America:prohibition or restriction of imports of agricultural products, raw materials and food;-   prohibition or restriction of imports of alcohol and tobacco products;-   prohibition or restriction of imports of medicines, except for those whose analogues are not produced in Russia;-   prohibition or restriction of exports of products and equipment from rare earth metals;-   prohibition of state and municipal purchases of technological equipment and software;-   exhaustion of the exclusive right to trademarks in respect of goods owned by US citizens;-   prohibition to attract highly qualified specialists;setting higher fees on air navigation services for aircraft engaged in the transportation of goods and using Russian airspace. Furthermore, Russia intends to terminate cooperation with the USA in the following industries: - atomic industry;- aircraft building;- rocket industry;- consulting, auditing and legal services.The above-menrtioned organisations will also be prohibited from participating in sales of federal property and privatisation.The text of the bill also says that the Russian government will have the right to expand the list of services and goods that fall under restrictions. To crown it all, the Russian authorities will be able to make the list of US citizens who will be banned from entering Russia.Pravda.Ru

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during a phone conversation on Thursday discussed the work on the documents of the 5th Summit of the Caspian states (Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan).

The monitoring mission of members of the European Committee of the Regions believes that the presidential election held in Azerbaijan on April 11 are legitimate, a mission member, member of the European Committee of the Regions from Estonia Mart Vorklaev said.

Distributing the pre-prepared material as preliminary results is disrespect for the will and choice of the partner country, Novruz Mammadov, assistant to the Azerbaijani president for foreign policy issues, head of department, tweeted on April 12.

As of Jan. 1, 2018, the number of cars hit 1.34 million units in Azerbaijan, Chairman of the State Statistics Committee Tahir Budagov said in an interview to the website of the ruling party of Azerbaijan.

The OIC Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Yousef bin Ahmed Al-Othaimeen, congratulated the people of Azerbaijan on the successful conclusion of the presidential elections on 11 April 2018, and congratulated President-elect Ilham Aliyev on his victory.

The views of members of the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on the presidential election in Azerbaijan are a pre-prepared provocation, political analyst Bahruz Guliyev told Trend on April 12.

In January-March 2018 Azerbaijan’s foreign trade turnover amounted to AZN 5,546,139,380, up 34.64% or AZN 1,427,059,630 compared to a year earlier.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko phoned Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the press service of the Azerbaijani president said in a statement.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has commented on the preliminary conclusion of Western organizations in connection with the April 11 presidential election in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan does not regard the initial report by the observation missions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the results of the April 11 presidential election as fair and objective, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, told APA.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E Vitezslav Pivonka upon the termination of his diplomatic tenure.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Azerbaijan, Moussaid bin Ibrahim al-Sulayman, upon termination of his diplomatic tenure in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani billionaire residing in Turkey, head of Palmali Group of Companies Mubariz Mansimov has congratulated Ilham Aliyev on the confident victory in presidential elections held in our country.

Italy’s La Stampa newspaper published a letter of Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Italy Mammad Ahmadzadah in response to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.