The Charge d'Affaires of the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan was summoned to the country's Foreign Ministry on Sunday, August 1 and handed a note of protest over a statement from Russian lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky about Azeri President Ilham ALiyev, Sputnik Azerbaijan reports.

Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, said in a podcast on July 30 that Aliyev understands that "he will lose his post, that he has a dictatorship there full of opposition forces." According to him, only Russia will be able to “save” him.

During the meeting in Baku, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expressed "serious concern" over Zhirinovsky's "biased and offensive" statements.

The Azerbaijani side noted that such behavior is "unethical", does not correspond to "the spirit of friendship and strategic partnership" between the countries, and that "irresponsible and provocative statements" aimed at damaging those relations are unacceptable.