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Official representative of the US State Department John Kirby has commented the situation around Russian and Israeli citizen blogger Alexander Lapshin, who faces extradition to Azerbaijan over his visits to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). 

“I’d say this is really something for the relevant countries to speak to, especially when you’re talking about extradition requests. That’s really for them to speak to,” John Kirby has said at a daily briefing held in Washington on Tuesday, citing lack of have any specific information with respect to the case.
However, State Department spokesperson reiterated the US concern with the issue of press freedom. “Certainly, our concern over the freedom of journalists to do their jobs remains very robust,” he added.

To remind, Alexander Lapshin writes a blog in which he records his travels throughout the world. On December 13 he and his wife arrived in the Belarus capital, Minsk. A day later, Lapshin wrote on his Facebook page that he had been arrested at the request of Azerbaijan. He faces sentence from five to eight years of imprisonment.

After his visits to NKR in 2011 and 2012, Lapshin’s name was placed on Baku government’s blacklist. The Azerbaijani prosecutor general issued an international warrant for Lapshin’s arrest not only because of his visits to NKR, but also because of his posts, in which he expressed his support for the independence of the region.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Tuesday that Moscow was taking measures to solve the situation with due respect for the rights of a Russian citizen.