BAKU, July 6 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it had summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest against what it said was a Russian drone strike on a fuel station belonging to state oil and gas company SOCAR in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region on Sunday.
Russia has been targeting filling stations in Ukraine in retaliation for Kyiv’s escalating campaign against Russia’s own energy infrastructure, which has caused fuel shortages in many Russian regions.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said other SOCAR-owned facilities in Ukraine, including an oil depot in Odesa, had previously been damaged in military strikes.
“The continuation of such incidents, despite repeated warnings, indicates the deliberate nature of these attacks,” it said in a statement.
There was no immediate reaction from Russia to Azerbaijan’s diplomatic demarche and allegation.
Azerbaijan has sought to maintain relations with both Moscow and Kyiv since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine while not joining Western sanctions on Russia.
(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova, Writing by Felix Light and Alessandra PrenticeEditing by Andrew Osborn)
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