Russia welcomes the successful holding of presidential elections in Azerbaijan, Report's Russian bureau informs, citing the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"The Russian side welcomes the successful holding of elections in Azerbaijan and is committed to further strengthening the alliance and strategic partnership with the Republic of Azerbaijan, active joint work on international and regional issues, including the implementation of the entire complex of trilateral agreements at the highest level on the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations," the statement reads.
The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly congratulated Ilham Aliyev during a telephone conversation and sent a congratulatory telegram: "It is noted in the telegram that the voting results fully confirmed the popular support for the course pursued by the President of Azerbaijan on the accelerated socio-economic development of the state and strengthening its position on the world stage."
The ministry noted that 790 international observers monitored the elections in Azerbaijan. Russia sent 148 representatives, including through the Federal Assembly, the Executive Committee and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA), the SCO, and the OSCE ODIHR.
"CIS Secretary General Sergey Lebedev emphasized that the elections were in compliance with the principles of democratic expression of will, and the voter turnout was high. According to Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Grigory Karasin, the voting took place on the basis of competitive alternative and in a favorable atmosphere. SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming pointed to the openness and transparency of elections.
Against this background, the assessments from Western countries and international structures controlled by them looked extremely biased, which, as we saw, were initially extremely biased towards the presidential elections in Azerbaijan and were practicing pre-approved methods to discredit the electoral process," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Extraordinary presidential elections took place in Azerbaijan on February 7. According to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan, received from 100% of polling stations, Ilham Aliyev is leading in the elections, gaining 92.12% of the votes.