Russian MP responds to Azerbaijan`s step 

ArmInfo.  Konstantin Zatulin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, called Azerbaijan's reaction to his statements condemning the former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh "an unimpressive insult" against the backdrop of "effectively suspended death sentences" for Armenian politicians. He stated this to RTVI.

As a reminder, on February 5, a Baku puppet court sentenced Arayik  Harutyunyan, David Babayan, David Ishkhanyan, David Manukyan, and  Levon Mnatsakanyan to life imprisonment on trumped-up charges, and  Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan to 20 years in prison. The  so-called court sentenced the remaining Artsakh residents to up to 15  years in prison. The verdict has not yet been announced for  philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, whose case has been separated into  separate proceedings. On the same day, the international Lazarev Club  issued a statement regarding the sentences handed down to Armenian  prisoners held in Azerbaijan. The statement was published on the  social media page of Lazarev Club Council Coordinator Konstantin  Zatulin. The statement noted that the sentence handed down in Baku to  the military-political leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh effectively  condemned the right of the region's Armenian population to  self-determination, which was demonstrated during the collapse of the  USSR. It emphasized that the trial in Baku is a reprisal, a trial,  not a court.

On February 6, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry delivered a note of  protest to the Russian Ambassador to the Republic, Mikhail  Yevdokimov.

Zatulin himself, speaking with RTVI, noted that he was unaware of the  contents of the protest note.  However, he cited a quote he claimed  belonged to writer Mark Twain: "The most notorious thief does not  want to see himself in a public gallery of swindlers."

"Why did I mention him? Because there's no comparison to Azerbaijan's  actions when it comes to the captured leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh,  who were demonstratively subjected to effectively suspended death  sentences," the State Duma deputy told RTVI.

He noted that the former presidents of the abolished Nagorno-Karabakh  Republic, 68-year-old Arkady Ghukasyan and 65-year-old Bako  Ghukasyan, who were sentenced to 20 years in prison, "are unlikely to  survive the remainder of their sentences." "And from this  perspective, I'm not impressed by Azerbaijan's grievances over the  statement by the Lazarev Club [a Russian-Armenian organization  created at Zatulin's initiative in 2018 - RTVI note]," Zatulin  stated.