Head of Rossotrudnichestvo confirms closure of Russian House in Baku

Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov confirmed he received a note from Baku on the need to register the Russian cultural center (Russian House) in Azerbaijan.

“It says that our representative office—the Russian Information and Cultural Center, also known as ‘Russian House’—should be registered as a legal entity under local law,” he said.
According to Primakov, “Russian House” in Azerbaijan should leave the rented premises within a month and a half, as the owner intends to urgently sell it. The head of Rossotrudnichestvo added that the owner of other premises, with whom negotiations were underway, has “taken a pause” so far.
According to him, the center was engaged only in humanitarian cooperation, and there were never any political issues.

“Comparing us, the Russian House in Baku, with USAID does not stand up to any criticism at all. We have never been and are not engaged in any political issues. We have never had that. The Russian Cultural Center was engaged only in humanitarian cooperation,” he said, hopeful that Baku will address this issue properly.

Earlier, Azerbaijani media reported that Baku had sent an official notification to Russia on the termination of the activities of the Rossotrudnichestvo agency.