Russia expects Lachin corridor to be unblocked soon

MOSCOW (AA) – Russia’s foreign minister has said that he expects the situation in the Lachin corridor connecting Armenia to the Karabakh region to be settled soon.

Azerbaijan provided data to the Russian military, showing that Armenia used the route to transport mines next to Azerbaijani positions. This is in violation of the peace agreements, Sergey Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

While the Russian military is acting on the information, Moscow proposed allowing Russian peacekeepers to monitor traffic along the corridor and check vehicles for the presence of prohibited items.

Lavrov warned Yerevan against the deployment of a “civil monitoring mission” on the border with Azerbaijan without Baku’s consent.

“The Armenian side prefers to negotiate with the EU so that a civilian observer mission can be stationed there (in Karabakh) on a long-term basis. This is the border with Azerbaijan, so if this mission unfolds without the consent of Azerbaijan, it may simply be counterproductive. Instead of building trust at the border, it can create additional irritants,” he said.

Lavrov added that Yerevan insisted on including a tough condemnation of Azerbaijan in a joint statement of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan had been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

In the fall of 2020, during 44 days of heavy fighting, Azerbaijan liberated a significant part of Karabakh and a Russian-brokered peace agreement was subsequently signed, considered a triumph in Baku.

Lavrov said what is happening in Ukraine today is the result of the global and hybrid war against Russia which the US has been preparing for many years and that the European Union completely lost its independence and became subject to “American dictates.”

“Europe has lost its independence. The joint declaration of NATO and the EU made Europeans directly subject to the North Atlantic Alliance,” he said.

He pointed out that the US formed a coalition of European countries against Russia, comparing it to actions by Napoleon and Adolf Hitler, who in their times also mobilized all Europe against Russia.

He said the US seeks “a final solution of the Russian question” as Hitler was doing towards Jews.

Commenting on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point “peace formula,” Lavrov said Russia will be ready to consider serious proposals for negotiations with Ukraine, but so far, Kyiv has not presented any.