In an interview given to Azeri Pres Agency (APA), Lithuanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Arturas Zurauskas commented on a protest filed by Baku to Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the participation of a music group from Lithuania at a festival in Karabakh.

APA wrote that the festival “was held by Armenian separatists in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno Karabakh territory.”

In response, Ambassador Zurauskas is reported saying: “I do not think that a Lithuanian actor’s visit to Nagorno Karabakh will have serious impact on our relations with Azerbaijan. It doesn’t mean that we don’t recognize the occupation fact.”

The ambassador went on to say that citizens of Lithuania have the right of freedom of movement and that they know if they visit those territories their entry to Azerbaijan will be automatically banned.