Author: Ekmekjian Janet

ArmInfo.On March 31, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at a government meeting that it is inadmissible to draw parallels between the Lachin corridor and the road opening between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan through the territory  of the Republic of Armenia.

According to Pashinyan, Baku distorts paragraph 9 of the tripartite  statement of November 9, 2020 on the restoration of transport and  economic communications in the region, the launch of a road  connecting the western regions of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan. “You  know that Armenia has come up with comprehensive proposals on this  topic. Without going into details, I will say that the essence of our  proposal is as follows: reconstruct the  Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, reopen or build a  highway that will connect the western regions of Azerbaijan with  Nakhichevan, by exercising border, customs and other control at  border crossings,” he recalled.

According to the prime minister, Baku accepts and rejects this  position of the Armenian side at the same time. “They say they agree  with any legal regime for the operation of this road, but the same  regime should operate in the Lachin corridor, and in support of this  position they refer to the statement of November 9,” he said.

According to Pashinyan, this statement is unfounded for two reasons.   “Firstly, in the November 9 statement, there is no mention of any  corridor other than Lachin. The Lachin corridor is not only a  corridor, but also a 5 km wide area, which is under the control of  Russian peacekeepers, and this is enshrined in a tripartite  statement. There is no any clause on control over any  part of  Armenia by another country,” he said.

As the prime minister pointed out, it is strange to draw parallels  between Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan for several reasons.   “Firstly, Nakhichevan has land communication with Azerbaijan through  the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey, air communication – through  the airspace of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey and the Republic  of Armenia. And Nagorno-Karabakh has only land communication with  Armenia – only through the Lachin corridor, and make the Lachin  corridor in any way controlled by Azerbaijan means one thing: the  expulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinyan explained.

Thus, as the head of the RA government stressed, comparing the Lachin  corridor with a road that will be opened through the territory of  Armenia is unacceptable, the statement of November 9 does not  envisage the existence of any corridor through the territory of  Armenia, and Armenia has not accepted and will not accept any  corridor logic.

At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan once again announced his readiness  to open a railway and a highway within the framework of the proposals  of the Armenian side. “But we consider it necessary to sign a de jure  agreement with Azerbaijan. Why? Because we see a very specific risk  when Armenia builds both a road and a railway, and Azerbaijan refuses  to open the border. And it turns out that neither Armenia, nor  Azerbaijan, nor third countries will not be able to use the  infrastructure that requires investments of several hundred million  dollars, and Armenia will simply lose several hundred million  dollars. What do we propose today? We propose to open the railway in  2021. De jure agreements reached in Brussels on December 14 2012,  coordinate the parameters of the railway and start construction, or  do it in a package, including the highway, and we are ready to do it  as soon as Azerbaijan responds positively to our proposals,” the  prime minister said. According to him, the proposals were submitted  to international partners, who considered them logical, acceptable,  meeting the interests of all countries in the region. 

ArmInfo.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh issued a statement in connection with the termination of gas supply.  As the pres service  of the Artsakh MFA reports, the statement reads, in part:

“In the evening of March 21, the Azerbaijani authorities again  disrupted the gas supply to Artsakh, depriving its population of an  important heating resource in extremely cold weather conditions.   Azerbaijan’s behavior is humanitarian terrorism. It grossly violates  the human rights, the norms and principles of international  humanitarian law and does not fit into the norms of morality in any  way.  This heinous act is another demonstration of hatred and  nationalism.  The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh  strongly condemns the policy of Azerbaijan and appeals to the  international community with an urgent request to give an adequate  assessment of the situation.  Azerbaijan’s misanthropic steps cannot  affect the will and determination of the people of Artsakh. We will  continue to live and create in our historical homeland, develop and  strengthen our independent statehood,” they concluded.

It should be noted that late on the evening of March 21, it became  known that the Azerbaijani side had cut off the gas supply to  Artsakh. ” As a result of the direct intervention of the Azerbaijani  side, the gas supply to the Artsakh Republic was again disrupted. We  have sufficient grounds to claim that during the repair works of the  gas pipeline exploded on March 8, the Azerbaijani side installed a  valve, through which it disrupted the gas supply hours ago.  

Azerbaijan uses the unfavorable weather conditions to create  additional humanitarian problems for our population and makes a  criminal action.  The command of the Russian peacekeeping force  stationed in Artsakh was immediately informed about the situation,  together with which the Artsakh authorities are making appropriate  efforts to restore gas supply.  At the same time, we urge citizens to  use electricity as sparingly as possible to avoid possible power  outages,” the Artsakh Information Headquarters said in a statement.  

ArmInfo. Moscow is seeking parity in its relations with Yerevan and Baku. Evidence thereof is the Declaration on Allied Relations recently signed by Russia and  Azerbaijan, Russian political scientist Andrey Areshev said in an  interview with ArmInfo. 

The declaration was signed in Moscow on February 22. Some of its 44  points deal with the bilateral military cooperation.  

“I see the motive behind the signed document, namely, Russia’s desire  to maintain equally close and mutually beneficial relations with both  Armenia and Azerbaijan. And the practically identical documents on  Russian-Armenian alliance and now on Russian-Azerbaijani alliance  form the necessary legal basis for that. And the declaration signed  in Moscow enables Russia to successfully maintain parity in its  military and technical cooperation with both the states as well,” he  said. 

According to Mr Areshev, Russia will seek to make Azerbaijan  increasingly dependent by supplying spare parts for the weapons  Azerbaijan once purchased from it and by ensuring regular  maintenance. On the other hand, by actively and consistently  upgrading Armenia’s armed forces, Russia will continue its own policy  of maintaining parity between the two parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict over the last to decades. 

In the context of the willingness for peace stated by Armenia’s  ruling force, Mr Areshev does not expect Yerevan to express its  discontent with the Russian-Azerbaijani relations reaching a new  level. On the other hand, at lower levels negative opinions can and  will be voiced. The expert is sure that Baku coordinated the signing  of the Azerbaijan-Russian declaration with Ankara.

In this context, Mr Areshev highlights the importance of the  declaration for Azerbaijan as an element of balance with its close  ties with Turkey. Since the Shushi Declaration was signed the need  for Baku to diversify its relations with Turkey in the context of its  relations with the other centers of power, in particular with Russia,  has become increasingly urgent. And the current political turbulence  in the South Caucasus and Black Sea region only corroborates it.