Azerbaijan has handed a note of protest to the Charge d'Affaires of France over the visit of French presidential candidate Valerie Pécresse to Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Interfax reports.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d'Affaires on Thursday, December 24 and said that such trips "harm the Azerbaijani-French bilateral relations," and also seriously damaged the reputation of France in the region and the role that it can play in the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations after the end of the conflict.

The Ministry noted that Pécresse and the French citizens accompanying her have now been included in the "black list" people whose entry into Azerbaijan is undesirable.

Pécresse is the second French presidential hopeful to arrive in Armenia ahead of national election in 2022. Eric Zemmour too launched his campaign with a trip to the country.