Russia pays special attention to traditional relations with Azerbaijan, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on the eve of the working visit to Baku of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, due on July 11-12, according to TASS.

"We pay special attention to expanding traditional relations in the humanitarian sphere, to keeping and developing of historically close spiritual ties between peoples of Russia and Azerbaijan," the ministry said in a comment published on Saturday. "We consider the upcoming negotiations in the context of continuing development of the Russian-Azerbaijani political dialogue."

"During the meetings in Baku, the parties will discuss current aspects of the bilateral agenda, and will exchange opinions on problems of the Nagorno Karabakh settlement in development of the agreements, reached at the recent summits in Vienna and in St. Petersburg," the foreign ministry said. "Azerbaijan is our important strategic counterpart in the Transcaucasian and Caspian regions, and our relations with Baku are based on equality, respect for interests of each other and on good neighborhood."

AZERTAC