BAKU. May 20 (Interfax) - Operation Granitsa Shchit has started in Azeri regions bordering Russia.
"The operation is being held jointly with Russia. Russia is operating on its territory, and we are operating on ours. The efforts are being coordinated," Azeri Interior Ministry deputy spokesman Ehsan Zakhidov told Interfax.
"The operation aims to suppress crime, to provide law and order, to detain wanted criminals and to fight trans-boundary organized crime, illegal migration, drug and arms trafficking," he said.
Operations of the kind are held annually under a bilateral agreement, he added.
Interior Ministry officers are holding the operation in northern and northwestern Azerbaijan. There are police checkpoints on motorways.