Closing the Lachin corridor is Azerbaijan’s grossest violation of the international obligation it has assumed. Even if we were to base ourselves on Azerbaijan’s propagandistic (agitational) version, that the Lachin corridor was closed by eco-activists (environmentalists), under point 6 of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, ensuring the safe movement of citizens, transport means (vehicles) and cargo through the Lachin corridor is Azerbaijan’s direct obligation; under these conditions, the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh and Russia, which has assumed clear security obligations before the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, must come forward with a clear clarification of the situation.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said this at the start of the government session.
He said that such a question also arises because the closure of the Lachin corridor is not the first case of Azerbaijan’s intrusion into the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“If the Russian Federation, for objective or subjective reasons, cannot ensure stability and security in Nagorno-Karabakh, I believe it should initiate discussions in the UN Security Council and raise the question of endowing the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh with a UN Security Council mandate, or of sending an additional, multinational peacekeeping contingent to Nagorno-Karabakh. Such a question also arises because the closure of the Lachin corridor is not the first case of Azerbaijan’s intrusion into the zone of responsibility of the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was preceded by the events at Parukh in March 2022 and the events at Khtsaberd in December 2020, as a result of which around three dozen citizens of the Republic of Armenia continue to remain captive. The increasingly visible conduct of the Russian peacekeepers in becoming silent witnesses to the depopulation of Nagorno-Karabakh is unacceptable to us,” Pashinyan noted.
According to the Prime Minister, the international proclamation of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh must become part of their daily work.
“Partner states and international organisations must be informed in detail about the established humanitarian crisis and the deterioration of the situation,” Pashinyan concluded.
