Israel and Azerbaijan have close relations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry told on Monday.
The Foreign Ministry was commenting on the possible impact of the detention of blogger Alexander Laphsin, a citizen of Israel and Russia, on Israel-Azerbaijan relations.
“Close bilateral relations were also seen during the recent visit of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Baku,” said the statement. “We are confident that Israel-Azerbaijan relations will continue to be strong.”
Blogger Alexander Lapshin, a citizen of Russia, Israel and Ukraine, was detained in Minsk at the request of the Azerbaijani government for violating its borders and making illegal trip to occupied Azerbaijani lands. The work is underway to extradite him to Azerbaijan.
Some sources say this incident is likely to affect Israel-Azerbaijan relations. According to some reports, the Israeli government has already asked Minsk to organize a meeting between an Israeli delegation and Lapshin.