Embassy: situation around Lachin corridor to be resolved based on point 6 of trilateral statement

YEREVAN, August 22. /ARKA/. In response to a letter from Taguhi Tovmasyan, head of the Armenian National Assembly's Committee on Human Rights Protection and Public Affairs, the Russian Embassy in Armenia said the situation around the Lachin corridor (that connects Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh) will be resolved on the basis of point 6 of the trilateral statement made November 9, 2020, by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia to end the war in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

In the letter, Tovmasyan says that the human, technical and transport resources are not enough for the timely evacuation of the Armenian population of Berdzor (Lachin) Aghavno and Nerkin Sus villages located within the Lachin corridor until August 25, the deadline conveyed to the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities by Azerbaijan through Russian peacekeepers deployed in the corridor.

She also refers to a last week interview of Maxim Seleznyov, a counsellor-envoy at the Russian embassy in Armenia, with RFE/RL/s Armenian Service, in which he says 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 and stresses that there are agreements in this regard and the parties are in direct contact over this issue.

The Russian Embassy replied that the situation around the Lachin corridor should be solved based on point 6 of the trilateral statement under which a plan for the construction of a new corridor to link Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia with the subsequent redeployment of a Russian peacekeeping contingent to protect that route is to be determined in 2023.

The Russian Embassy also adds that there are regular consultations of the parties concerned on all the topics mentioned in their letter.

"To this end, we are in constant dialogue with the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides both at the highest level and through the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian Foreign Ministry and other agencies. On August 2 and 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin had telephone conversations with Prime Minister. Foreign and Defense Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shoygu also had contacts with their Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts. Taking into account the sensitivity of the issue details of discussions were not disclosed, but such conversations are important and effective tools of settlement," the embassy said.-0-