MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Russia and Azerbaijan are actively developing and maintaining their economic ties, and no one is interested in breaking them off, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said in an interview with Rossiya 1 TV channel.
"Overall, our economic relations with Azerbaijan are developing, these ties are being maintained, and no one is interested in severing them," he said.
According to Overchuk, Moscow and Baku do harbor certain grievances regarding one another’s actions. "Of course, these are matters of concern for us, and we remain in constant contact," he noted.
On June 28, the Investigative Department of Russia’s Investigative Committee for the Sverdlovsk Region announced the dismantling of a criminal group implicated in a series of murders committed in Ekaterinburg in the early 2000s. Eight suspects have been taken into custody. Preliminary reports indicate that one of the individuals involved died from heart failure, while the cause of death of a second person is still being determined. The bodies of both individuals were transported from Yekaterinburg to Baku, where authorities stated that forensic examinations revealed signs of violence and issued a formal protest to the Russian side.
In response, the republic canceled events involving Russia and detained Russian journalists Igor Kartavykh and Evgeny Belousov, along with several other Russian citizens. Azerbaijan and Russia exchanged diplomatic protest notes, and diplomats were summoned by their respective foreign ministries.