Moscow opposes the extradition of blogger Andrey Lapshin from Belarus to Azerbaijan, insisting on the unacceptability of extradition of Russian citizens to third countries, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"We consistently insist that the extradition of Russian citizens to third countries is unacceptable, and in order to make our position clear, we work intensively with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and competent authorities of Belarus," Zakharova told a briefing on Friday, February 3.

In mid-December 2016, Lapshin wrote that he had been detained in Minsk on the request of Azerbaijan, where he was included in a black list for a visit to Nagorno Karabakh "without consent of the Azerbaijani authorities." After the visit, he had entered Azerbaijan through Georgia using a Ukrainian passport. Baku accused the blogger of violation of country's legislation and put him on an international wanted list. The Prosecutor General's office in Minsk decided to extradite Lapshin to Azerbaijan several days after his detention.