A spokesman for the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday, January 17 commented on the possible extradition by Belarus of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan.

The Government of Belarus has arrested Lapshin based on request from Azerbaijan which accuses the blogger of visiting Nagorno Karabakh and some public statements unfavorable for the Azerbaijani Government. Israeli Government and Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov have resisted extradition. The Committee to Protect Journalists from New York also called for unconditional release of the blogger.

"First, I’d say this is really something for the relevant countries to speak to, especially when you’re talking about extradition requests. That’s really for them to speak to. Obviously, press freedom is important to us, and we talk about it all the time. I don’t have any specific information with respect to this case, but I’d refer you to the relevant countries to speak to that," John Kirby said in response.

"We are always concerned with the issue of press freedom. That is something that we speak to almost every day, sadly. We have to speak to it every day. So certainly, our concern over the freedom of journalists to do their jobs remains very robust."