Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has weighed in on Azerbaijan's refusal to accredit Russian commentator and journalist of Armenian descent Nobel Arustamyan for the upcoming EURO-2020 matches.

“UEFA is looking for a solution to allow Russian sports commentator Nobel Arustamyan to cover the European Football Championship. I believe that a solution will be found. We've been working on this all evening yesterday. And I can tell you that I have not seen such a constructive attitude from all the parties involved for a long time,” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

Sports reporter Vasily Utkin said in his Telegram channel earlier that Baku has failed to accredit the famous Russian-Armenian sports commentator for Euro 2020 fixtures.

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.

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.