ISTANBUL 

The Kremlin on Monday said Azerbaijan and Russia have entered a “difficult period” in bilateral ties, as Baku told over the weekend that it will "apply to international justice" concerning an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash in Kazakhstan late last year that killed 38 passengers on board.

“Sometimes, it happens that difficult periods occur in the relations of the two countries. Now is one of such periods,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press briefing in Moscow.

"We hope that this period will pass," Peskov said, noting that "cooperation between the two countries brings mutual benefit,” and that a "solid foundation" is present in bilateral ties.

Last month, Azerbaijan, after the death of its citizens during a police raid in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, cancelled planned cultural events in Russia, saying the decision was made in response to the “targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence against Azerbaijanis based on their ethnicity.”

In this regard, Peskov said that "law-abiding" Azerbaijani citizens in Russia "enjoy well-deserved respect" in the country, and that those who violate Russian laws are "prosecuted according to the law."

"It is very important for us that Russians are respected in Azerbaijan," he added.

The spokesman also said investigations on the part of Moscow are continuing concerning the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash in Kazakhstan last December, which resulted in the death of 38 passengers on board.

He said it is Baku's right if it decides to file a lawsuit against Moscow on the issue in international courts, and that Russia “will wait for official verdicts.”

Peskov's remarks concerning the issue came as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on Saturday that Baku would "apply to international justice" regarding the plane crash and had also informed Russia of this.

Aliyev further said Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office constantly tries to contact its counterparts from Moscow, but that the response it receives is that the "investigation is ongoing."

The spokesman added a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Beijing during events scheduled in September to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II “cannot be ruled out.”

The Kremlin announced last month that Putin will travel to China to attend the upcoming summit of the Shanghai Security Organization in the city of Tianjin on Aug. 31-Sept. 1.

Putin will also hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and attend festivities in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, which are scheduled for Sept. 2 and 3, respectively.

- Russia-Ukraine peace talks

Regarding a third round of direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks, Peskov said that Moscow is in favor of holding such negotiations and will inform the media once a final consensus is reached on the timing.

Peskov further said that there are "no changes" in the composition of Russia's delegation at the talks, confirming that Moscow's delegation will be led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.

"A lot of diplomatic work is ahead," the spokesman noted, adding that the memoranda exchanged by Russia and Ukraine during their latest round of talks in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul in June, are currently "absolutely diametrically opposed."

According to its memorandum for the settlement of the conflict, Moscow has demanded a ban on Kyiv joining military alliances and withdrawal of Ukraine's troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, the regions it annexed after a referendum in September 2022, among others.

Ukraine has described the terms as an "ultimatum" and called for a ceasefire as a prerequisite for meaningful talks in its own memorandum handed to the Russian side.

So far, two rounds of first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in three years took place in Istanbul -- on May 16 and June 2, respectively.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening video address Saturday that Kyiv proposed a new round of peace talks with Russia for next week, which Russian state media later confirmed, citing sources from Moscow's negotiation team.