On February 6, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Yevdokimov was summoned to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs over comments made by Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and a member of the ruling United Russia party.

The protest was related to Zatulin’s public criticism of the verdicts against former leaders of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), which he and the international Lazarev Club described as “retribution, a reckoning, not a trial.”

According to APA, during the meeting, a strong protest was voiced over “statements about verdicts concerning Armenian citizens,” and an official note was handed to the Russian side.

The Azerbaijani side urged Russia to take appropriate measures to stop the “destructive activities” of individuals like Zatulin, which, it claimed, harm the region’s “peace, stability, and bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.”

In its statement, the Lazarev Club, coordinated by Zatulin, argued that the Baku verdicts effectively criminalize the right of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination, expressed during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Former President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan was sentenced to life imprisonment. Similar sentences were handed down to former Defense Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan and his former deputy David Manukyan, as well as former Foreign Minister David Babayan and National Assembly Speaker David Ishkhanyan. Former Presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan received 20-year sentences.

Madat Babayan and Melikset Pashayan were sentenced to 19 years, Garik Martirosyan to 18, David Alaverdyan and Levon Balayan to 16, and Erik Ghazaryan, Gurgen Stepanyan, and Vasily Beglaryan to 15 years in prison.