Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today handed five Orthodox icons, seized by customs officials, to his Russian counterpart, Dmitriy Medvedev.
"Smugglers tried to bring these icons from Russia. Our customs officials found them. The smugglers have been brought to book. We hand the icons to you, because they should be in your country," Aliyev told Medvedev.
Medvedev thanked Aliyev for the "friendly gesture". "We appreciate it," he said.
The Russian president's special envoy on international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvidkoy, told Interfax that the five icons, some of them in silver and gold frames, dated to the early 19th century, according to Russian experts.
Shvidkoy said the icons had been stolen from a Russian monastery.
Honorary degree
Later in the day, President Medvedev was awarded an honorary doctorate by Baku State University for his services to the development of education and Russian-Azerbaijani relations.
University Rector Abel Maherramov presented the honorary doctorate to the Russian president at a ceremony at the university today.
Azerbaijani-Russian cooperation
Addressing a joint press conference with Ilham Aliyev after their talks today, Medevev thanked Azerbaijan for its assistance in fighting the wildfires that ravaged swathes of Russia during the exceptionally hot, dry summer.
“Our Azerbaijani counterparts provided us with assistance. Even a country with the potential of Russia needs friendly assistance,” Medvedev said.
He told the press conference that Russia would do everything necessary to restore regions affected by fires in the past few days.
“We are continuing to extinguish fires; settlements have been hit and people suffered yesterday,” he said.
The Russian and Azerbaijani presidents agreed to grant international status to an annual bilateral forum on humanitarian cooperation.
“We agreed to grant international status to this forum under the auspices of Russia and Azerbaijan in 2011,” Ilham Aliyev told the press conference.