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Russia and Azerbaijan are in constant communication about contentious issues that have arisen between the two countries, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"Currently, Alexander Bastrykin, Head of Russia's Investigative Committee, maintains regular contact with the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan," Peskov told a press briefing in Moscow.
Russia is committed to safeguarding its nationals detained in Azerbaijan using every legal tool at its disposal, Peskov reiterated. "We intend to defend the lawful rights of our citizens via diplomatic channels and employ all feasible measures towards achieving this goal," he asserted.
Peskov claimed that Ukraine will try to exploit the situation to exacerbate existing disputes between Russia and Azerbaijan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged Azerbaijan to restore its ties with Moscow to a level befitting "strategic cooperation" after saying that certain forces were trying to wreck the two countries' relationship.
The diplomatic row began last week after two Azerbaijanis died during police raids in Russia and escalated after Baku then arrested two Russian state journalists and roughly 15 more Russians on suspicion of drug trafficking and cybercrime.
Azerbaijan says post-mortems conducted in Baku on the two men who died in Russia showed they were beaten to death, though Moscow said one of them had died from heart problems.
Authorities in Baku have opened their own investigation into the deaths. Relations have been under strain since late last year, when 38 people were killed after an Azerbaijani airliner headed from Baku to southern Russia crashed.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Moscow had been cultivating its relationship with Baku for many years based on mutual respect and suggested unknown actors were now trying to use the situation to "warm up their hands."
"Just don't let them get burned," she told Sputnik Radio in an interview. "Because for us, for the two peoples, friendship relations are extremely important. And those who want to spoil them should think carefully about what they are doing."
Zakharova later said in a news briefing that Baku should restore its ties with Russia, complaining that Moscow did not have any consular access to its detained citizens.
"We, of course, call on the Azerbaijani side to take measures to return our ties to the level of interstate relations as set out in official documents. Let me remind you that this is the level of strategic cooperation," she said.
The Kremlin has said Russia aims to negotiate the release of its journalists, who have been charged with fraud and other crimes and placed in pre-trial detention in Baku.
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