Azerbaijan is reportedly set to target Russian citizens in the country with rule changes after a plane was believed to have been shot down by Vladimir Putin’s forces, killing 38.
Russia has faced criticism due to suspicions that it fired ordinance at an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane with 67 people on board near Grozny in Chechnya on Christmas Day.
The plane eventually crash landed in Aktau, Kazakhstan.
38 people were killed, including both pilots.
As they struggled to control the plane, it is believed that the pilots had tried to at one point to return to their home airport, Baku.
Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, has apologised to the leader of Azerbaijan over the downing of the airliner in Russian airspace.
However, he stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.
In his first comments on the incident, Putin called it “tragic”, and confirmed that the crash had occurred when Russian air defence systems were repelling Ukrainian drones.
Most of the passengers on the flight were from Azerbaijan, it has been reported, alongside others from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Now, Azerbaijan is to target Russian citizens with rule changes
Russian news agency TASS reported on Telegram that Azerbaijan will change the rules of stay for Russian citizens in the coming days.
News.am writes that a representative of the Azerbaijani ministry, Aikhan Hajizadeh, highlighted that Russia had previously reduced the terms of stay for foreign citizens.
According to him, in the near future, Azerbaijan plans to make changes to the rules affecting the terms of temporary stay of Russian citizens in the country, “as the tightening of requirements by the Russian side is primarily considered in the context of the rights of Azerbaijani citizens.”
Mr Hajizadeh added: “Azerbaijan, as in any foreign policy issue, will proceed from the principles of parity and reciprocity in the issues of temporary stay and migration.”
