The crisis created in the Lachin corridor since last week has not been resolved, with one exception: the gas supply to Nagorno-Karabakh has been restored. This was announced today, 22 December, by Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan at a government meeting.
“As a result of Azerbaijan’s illegal closure of the Lachin corridor, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh remains extremely tense; hundreds of families continue to remain divided, involuntarily finding themselves on different sides of the blockade. A shortage of a number of essential goods, including food, is observed in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan’s actions to close the Lachin corridor are illegal and grossly violate its assumed international commitments, particularly the provisions of the 9 November statement.
According to point 6 of the statement, the Lachin corridor is under the control of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan guarantees the security of movement of citizens, transport vehicles and cargo through the Lachin corridor. This provision, in fact, is not being implemented today.
De facto, it turns out that the commitment recorded in the trilateral statement, namely to keep the Lachin corridor under control, is also not being fulfilled by the Russian peacekeeping contingent. Of course, such a thing happens as a result of Azerbaijan’s illegal actions, but this does not change the situation, because the key meaning of the presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent is precisely that: to not allow such illegality to occur,” he said.
