Flags conspicuously missing during visit of Russian FM in Yerevan and Baku
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Yerevan and Baku in one day, November 21, where they met Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
After two meetings, Sergei Lavrov told reporters literally the same thing. The main message was:
“Everyone recognized that the trilateral statement [of November 10 on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh] was indisputable.”
The greatest interest of journalists and users of social media however was not caused by the statements, but by the fact that national flags were conspicuously missing during meetings with both leaders.
At the meetings of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan with the Russian ministers, only the state flag of Armenia was in the room.
At the meetings of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with the same ministers, there were no flags at all.
Commenting on the discussion of the history with the flags, the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan told reporters that ‘there was no violation of diplomatic protocol.’
