Pashinyan’s dissatisfaction
Nikol Pashinyan spoke at a meeting of the Armenian government. HE IS registeredHe said that the crisis in the Laçin corridor has not been resolved since last week.
“The humanitarian situation is extremely tense due to Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh. “Hundreds of families are still divided in Nagorno-Karabakh, there are no basic products, including food shortages,” he said.
According to him, “Azerbaijan’s actions are illegal and grossly violate its international obligations.” He reminded that, according to the agreement signed on November 9, 2020, “the Lachin corridor is under the control of the peacekeeping unit of the Russian Federation” and that Azerbaijan guarantees “the security of the movement of vehicles and goods.”
“This provision is not actually applied today. In fact, it turned out that the obligations set in the tripartite declaration, namely the control over the Lachin corridor, were not fulfilled by the Russian peacekeeping unit.
According to him, it was the Russian side that pledged not to allow this in the region, although in the current situation Azerbaijan was the culprit – this was the “key point” of the presence of peacekeepers from the Russian Federation in the Lachin corridor.
Pashinyan believes it is necessary to actively work on sending UN, OSCE or OSCE Minsk Group monitoring missions to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov did not agree with Pashinyan’s allegations and said that the Russian peacekeepers acted in full accordance with the documents and did everything possible to restore order in the Lachin corridor.
“Russian peacekeepers are doing everything possible to maintain order and peace in the lands where they work, and act only in accordance with the spirit and letter of the documents signed between the parties,” the Kremlin spokesman said at a briefing.
Blocking the drug corridor
The Lachin corridor is a six-kilometer mountainous corridor connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. It is located in the Lachin region of Azerbaijan. Following the results of the Second Karabakh War in November 2020, a peacekeeping force from the Russian Federation was deployed here.
On December 12, Azerbaijani media reported that local activists and journalists organized a protest against the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits by Armenians, according to Baku. They decided to express their opinion about the road connecting Shusha to Stepanakert. Armenian Ambassador Edmon Marukyan said that Azerbaijani citizens, who describe themselves as environmentalists, “closed the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia”.
13 December Russian Ministry of Defense reportedIt was reported that the Russian peacekeeping force continues to serve in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the ministry, the peacekeepers of the Russian Federation monitor the situation in the region around the clock at “thirty observation points” and “control the observance of the ceasefire”.
“On December 12, the Azerbaijani side closed the Stepanakert-Goris highway (Lachin corridor – socialbites.ca). “The command of the peacekeeping unit of Russia is meeting with representatives of Azerbaijan to continue the unhindered movement of civilian road transport,” he said.
The Ministry announced that they have cleared the area by patrolling 3 routes in Mardakert, Martuni and Shusha regions.
On 14 December, Armenia applied to the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights for the closure of the only road connecting the republic to Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Today, Armenia informed the Court that, in accordance with the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor was besieged by Azerbaijan and that the rights of the people of Artsakh (Armenian name for Mountainous) were violated. Karabakh socialbites.ca). It was also reported that Armenia applied to the ECtHR demanding the implementation of interim measures against Azerbaijan and lifting the blockade of the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor.
On 15 December, Stefan Duzhjarik, the official representative of the UN Secretary-General, said António Guterres is concerned about the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone and urged the parties to ensure free and safe movement along the Lachin corridor.
The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, at a briefing the same day, said that Moscow is concerned about the blocking of the Lachin corridor and hopes that full-fledged transport links will be re-established there “in the very near future”. “