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Moscow understands grounds for Azerbaijani leader's absence from CIS summit — MFA

Maria Zakharova said that Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier congratulated the Azerbaijani president on his birthday during a phone call

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Russia understands that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was unable to attend the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) leaders in St. Petersburg due to his busy schedule, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"The Russian side treated with understanding the fact that the Azerbaijani president couldn’t make it to the CIS summit in St. Petersburg because of his busy schedule. Yesterday, on December 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly congratulated the Azerbaijani president on his birthday during a phone call," she said.

"They confirmed their mutual desire to strengthen Russian-Azerbaijani allied relations in every possible way and agreed to keep in touch," Zakharova added.

Earlier, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Aliyev’s absence from the summit, said that "a president’s work schedule sometimes makes it impossible for him to travel" and that the Kremlin "understands this very well."

He stressed that relations between Moscow and Baku continue to develop and that Azerbaijan remains involved in all formats of cooperation within the CIS.

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