During the past week, the developments around the Lachin Corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia are as follows: Azerbaijan has not only continued the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, but has also carried out another incursion into the zone of responsibility of the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was stated by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a government meeting.
“The fact of the incursion was also recorded by the Russian Defense Ministry in an official statement, in which it is specifically stated: ‘On March 25, 2023, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, violating the first point of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, crossed the line of contact in the Shushi district, occupied height 20/54, and began engineering work.
The Azerbaijani side was presented with the demand regarding the necessity of fulfilling the provisions of the trilateral statement, to cease the engineering work and to return the units of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan to their initial positions.’
Thus, we can record that Azerbaijan is not only failing to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice rendered on February 22 of this year regarding the lifting of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, but is further aggravating the situation by taking steps aimed at also blocking the internal transport communication of Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Pashinyan.
According to Pashinyan, from height 20/54, the Azerbaijani side has taken under direct observation the dirt (ground) road connecting Stepanakert with Hin Shen, Mets Shen and several other villages.
“Azerbaijan explains this, allegedly, by the transfer of military cargo and personnel from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. This is information that absolutely does not correspond to reality.
The information about military transfers is a propagandistic lie, the purpose of which is to create legitimacy for a possible escalation. I consider it necessary to reiterate that Armenia does not carry out military transfers to Nagorno-Karabakh, and the RA has no army in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The proposal to send an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to verify this fact, let me remind you, was itself rejected by Azerbaijan on October 6, 2022, during the quadrilateral meeting held in Prague. But that proposal stands, and I believe there is a need to finally clarify this issue at the international level, and the means for that is to dispatch a fact-finding group to the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh,” said the Prime Minister.
