Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow has not controlled the Lachin corridor, which connects Armenia with the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic, since Azerbaijan imposed the blockade.
«You know that it has been blocked for almost 20 days,» he said at a meeting with Putin in the city of St. Petersburg, adding that the corridor «is not under the control of Russian peacekeepers,» TASS news agency reported.
Pashinian said the corridor «must be under the control of Russian peacekeepers» while Baku must «ensure unimpeded passage.» «I would like to discuss this situation and what options there are,» he said.
Putin also held a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev the day before in an informal trilateral meeting to address the crisis in the region. The last trilateral meeting between Putin, Pashinian and Aliyev took place at the end of October in Sochi.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday branded as «provocative» statements by Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigorian, who claimed that Russia is pressuring Yerevan to join the Union State, the alliance between Russia and Belarus, Interfax reported.
UN CALLS FOR RESOLUTION OF TENSIONS In view of the escalation of tensions in the region, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on its official Twitter profile for the parties to «resolve outstanding issues through dialogue, as well as to protect human rights and avoid «humanitarian impact» on civilians.
The Azeri authorities decided to blockade the area and suspend the gas supply, according to Armenia, so the local authorities – who began to store fuel to avoid a major crisis in the face of the blockade – asked the population to use the car only when necessary, giving priority to ambulances and minimum services.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been involved in several clashes in recent years over the control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory with a majority Armenian population which has been the focus of conflict since it decided to separate in 1988 from the Azerbaijan region integrated into the Soviet Union.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
