The Russian peacekeeping contingent reassured Artsakh’s political leaders that a new road connecting Armenia with Artsakh will be have the same legal status as the Lachin corridor.
The announcement came on Tuesday during a meeting with the leadership of the Russian peacekeeping contingent with the heads of the five parliamentary factions, who had asked for the meeting to discuss the most recent ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan earlier this month in Berdzor (Lachin), as a result of which two Artsakh soldiers were killed.
During the first week of August when Azerbaijan launched its latest offensive, the Russian Defense Minister, in three separate announcements, blamed Azerbaijan for breaching the ceasefire.
Soon after military tensions were quelled, Artsakh authorities announced that the residents of the Aghavno and surrounding villages in Berdzor must evacuate their homes in preparation for handing the region over to Azerbaijan.
The Russian peacekeeping representatives told the Artsakh lawmakers on Tuesday that the November 9, 2020 was clear that the new route will have the legal status of the current corridor and all security components will be maintained, starting with the five-kilometer security zone to checkpoints manned by Russian forces.
As for the latest ceasefire violations, the Russian peacekeeping contingent leaders said that they have assessed the incidents earlier this month and have made come to certain conclusion. At the same time, they assured the lawmakers that they will undertake additional efforts to prevent such violations in the future and ensure the proper security of the population of Artsakh.
Last week, a high-ranking diplomat at Russia’s embassy in Armenia said that Russian peacekeepers “will not move a single centimeter” from the existing Lachin corridor until a new road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia is put into operation.
“Russian peacekeepers will move only at the moment when the new Lachin corridor is opened. The tripartite statement [from November 9, 2020] spells out the steps, the sequence of steps. First, the corridor is completed, and as it comes into operation, Russian peacekeepers take control of a five-kilometer corridor around this road,” Maxim Seleznyov, the counsellor-envoy at the Russian embassy in Armenia, said last week.
Armenia’s authorities announced on Tuesday that construction of the new road connecting Armenia to Artsakh had begun. They estimated that the road will be completed by May.
