TEL AVIV, Israel (A.W.)—Israel has proposed that Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin held in Belarus apologize in writing to Azerbaijan, in exchange for Baku to revoke its request to extradite him, according to a senior Israeli official.
Lapshin has been in custody in Belarus since mid-December for his visits to Nagorno-Karabagh (NKR/Artsakh) and posts criticizing the Azerbaijani government.
The idea that Lapshin write an apology letter was first brought up several weeks ago in talks between Member of Parliament Ksenia Svetlova (Zionist Union)—who is helping Lapshin’s family—and Azerbaijani officials. Azerbaijani officials said that they would agree to an apology letter, but would not retract their demand to extradite Lapshin. They added that it was a matter of principle and would only release Lapshin if he was extradited to their country.
On Jan. 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov opposed Lapshin’s extradition during a press conference. According to Israeli senior officials, this was “dramatic development that could lead to a breakthrough in the efforts to release Lapshin.”
In his response, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov explained that Lapshin had broken Azerbaijani law and the extradition request was the appropriate response.
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“I believe the Russian law enforcement authorities would have taken similar steps in regard to a man who carried out similar offenses toward Russia and crossed the border illegally,” he said.
On Jan. 16, the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) of Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) “Nigol Aghpalian” Student Association held a protest at the Embassy of Belarus in Yerevan , calling on Belarussian authorities to fairly and objectively approach the detainment of blogger Alexander Lapshin and to not give in to the demands of Azerbaijan.
