June 8, 2021 - 19:10 AMT
Euro 2020: Azerbaijan fails to accredit Russian-Armenian journalist

Baku has failed to accredit famous Russian sports commentator of Armenian descent Nobel Arustamyan for the Euro 2020 matches, sports reporter Vasily Utkin said in his Telegram channel.

Utkin said local organizing committees in all countries should give the go-ahead for accreditation but because Azerbaijan has blacklisted Arustamyan, the commentator can't cover matches to be held in other countries either.

"Clearly, Nobel would not have gone to work in Azerbaijan. Now he will not get to travel to London or Amsterdam," Utkin wrote, revealing that Arustamyan was actually born in Baku.

This isn’t the first time that Azerbaijan denies entry to people with Armenian surnames irrespective of their citizenship, even deporting them in some cases. At various points, Azerbaijan Airlines have refused to transport people with Armenian family names, citing an order from Baku as a reason behind such a decision.