Days after meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, once again, criticized Russia and its peacekeeping contingent for doing little to end the now 17-day-long blockade of the Lachin Corridor—the only road linking Artsakh with Armenia.
Pashinyan on Thursday said the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh has become a “silent witness” to the blockade and must provide “clear explanations” for the condition created on the Lachin Corridor.
“What is Russia’s assessment of the situation? What is its plan and roadmap for restoring the Lachin Corridor? The public in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh expects answers to these questions from Russia, who is a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” asked Pashinyan.
“If for objective or subjective reasons Russia is unable to ensure stability and security in Nagorno Karabakh, then I believe it must initiate a discussion in the UN Security Council and raise the issue of either granting the UN Security Council mandate to the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh or deploying an additional, multinational peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh,” said Pashinyan during his cabinet meeting.
“This question is arising because Azerbaijan’s closure of the Lachin Corridor is not the first case of Azerbaijan’s invasion into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh. The events in Parukh in March of 2022 and the events in Khtsabred in December of 2020, as a result of which around three dozen citizens of Armenia are still being held captive, have preceded this,” Pashinyan said.
Moscow was quick to respond to these charges calling any criticism of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in relation to the Lachin Corridor “situation” unacceptable, adding that Moscow continues its efforts to improve the situation.
“We have on numerous occasions said that the Russian peacekeepers are doing everything possible to resolve the situation on the ground. Public accusations do not help these efforts and are worsening the situation,” said Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova during a press briefing on Thursday.
“Can anyone honestly say whether it would have been better without the Russian peacekeeping mission? Making such statements means not understanding what the situation is on the ground,” Zakharova added.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that Russia is concerned about the “tension” in the Lachin Corridor and “intends to further continue its mediation efforts, implementing first of all the agreements which have been reached on trilateral bases.”
He said that Putin and Pashinyan discussed the Lachin Corridor in “great detail” during their meeting on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, adding that “conversations on this topic will continue.”
Peskov also touched on Pashinyan’s suggestion to send international peacekeepers to Artsakh, saying that such a continued “can be involved if both sides of the conflict agree to it.
“It is not just Armenia, but also Azerbaijan. Armenia is our closest ally, Azerbaijan is our very valuable and dear partner,” Peskov said.
Moscow also charged back at Yerevan for another accusation waged at Russia, this time by Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan, who hinted on Monday that Moscow was exerting pressure on Armenia to join the Russia-Belarus Union State. He also suggested that the same circles were also pressuring Yerevan to open a “corridor” to Nakhichevan that would not be controlled by Armenia.
Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, rejected Grigoryan’s statements saying they are unsubstantiated and false.
“Are there facts? How was it pressured? How did it happen? No Russian official has ever talked about Armenia joining the Union State,” Zakharova asserted.
She added that the same can be said about claims that Moscow is forcing Yerevan to provide a corridor to Azerbaijan. “This is fake,” she charged. “We have talked about this many times as well.”
“According to the October 11, 2021 statement by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, various ways of opening of connections, including issues related to restoring railway transport in Armenia’s south have been discussed within the trilateral working group on the unblocking of all economic and transport connections in the region. One of the principles of this effort, which has not been disputed neither by Yerevan nor Baku, is that the sovereignty over the transport links is maintained by the country through which the connections pass,” Zakharova said.
