11:38,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that his administration will continue to advance the need for dispatching an international fact-finding mission to Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh, something he described as an “absolute necessity.”

Speaking at the August 31 Cabinet meeting, PM Pashinyan said that the Armenian government must continue efforts to draw international attention on the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings of 22 February and 6 July must be in the focus.

“With these rulings, the ICJ ordered Azerbaijan to take all steps at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. The court emphasized that the ruling is binding by law for Azerbaijan. The explicit disregard for this ruling by Azerbaijan is an overt manifestation of its policy of dispossession, because disregard for binding rulings is characteristic to the conduct of those who are committing such policy. And we must tirelessly advance the idea of sending an international fact-finding mission to Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh, because especially now this is an absolute necessity,” PM Pashinyan said.

The Armenian Prime Minister added that ensuring access of essential humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh is a priority task.

 12:27,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova who claimed that the situation in the Lachin corridor is a consequence of the fact that referring to the Alma-Ata Declaration, in Prague, October 2022 Armenia recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian foreign ministry said that Zakharova’s comments cause “confusion and disappointment.”

Below is the full statement by Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan.

“Another comment by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia of similar content claiming that the situation unfolded in the Lachin corridor is a consequence of the fact that referring to the Alma-Ata Declaration, in Prague, October 2022 Armenia recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, and after that, the task of the Russian peacekeepers became the possible influence on the issues of rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, causes confusion and disappointment.

We are compelled to recall the following, already well-known chronology and important circumstances.

• The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has never been a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In essence, it has always been and remains an issue of the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

• In August 2022, Armenia agreed to Russia’s draft proposal on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to which the discussion of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was supposed to be postponed for an indefinite period. Azerbaijan rejected the proposal, simultaneously announcing (as it did on August 31 in Brussels) that it is not going to discuss anything related to Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, and days later, on September 13, it launched military aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia.
• Russia not only did not pursue its proposal after Azerbaijan’s refusal, but also showed absolute indifference to the aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, leaving Armenia’s official letter to support the Republic of Armenia on the basis of the bilateral legal framework unanswered. Moreover, Russia conditioned the lack of stating the fact of the attack on Armenia and the resulting inaction under the false excuse that the interstate border between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not delimited. By this approach it either intentionally or not supports the obviously false and extremely dangerous thesis which claims that there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, therefore, attacking the border and the invasion into the territory of Armenia are difficult to verify. With the same mindset, Armenia’s similar application in the framework of the CSTO did not receive a proper response either.

• Under these conditions, on October 6, 2022, in Prague, Armenia and Azerbaijan reaffirmed their loyalty to the Alma-Ata Declaration, which was signed back in 1991 by the former Soviet republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, who recognized each other’s territorial integrity along the former administrative borders of the Soviet states. Therefore, nothing new was decided in Prague: as of October 2022, the Alma-Ata Declaration had been in force for about 31 years. The agreements in Prague did not change anything in the text of the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, either. The only novelty was that, based on the results of the Prague meeting, the EU decided to deploy a monitoring mission on the Armenian side of the interstate border between Armenia and Azerbaijan to contribute to the stability at the border.

• The Russian Federation recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan multiple times, including after the signing of the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and the most recent and perhaps most significant one: it stated that it recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in the document on establishing strategic relations with Azerbaijan.

• On December 12, 2022, the Lachin corridor was blocked, under the false pretext of protests organized by the authorities of Azerbaijan in the area of the control of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. Already in April 2023, in the presence of Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijan installed an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin corridor. Although these actions were a clear and gross violation of the Trilateral statement, the Russian Federation took no counteractions. Instead, Russian peacekeepers on June 15, 2023, actively supported the attempt to raise the Azerbaijani flag on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is outside the scope of their mission and geographical area of responsibility. This was immediately followed by the total blockade of the Lachin corridor, bringing the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh closer to a true humanitarian catastrophe.

• In the conditions of such arbitrariness in the presence of Russian peacekeepers, the Azerbaijani side resorts to steps such as the abduction of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh at the illegal checkpoint in the Lachin corridor: the case of abduction of Vagif Khachatryan on July 29, followed by the case of three students on August 28.

• Unfortunately, such practices of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh are nothing new. On December 11, 2020, the violation of the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, the illegal occupation of Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher villages, the capture and transfer of 60 Armenian servicemen to Baku took place in Nagorno-Karabakh with the presence and permission of representatives of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. At that time, the agreements of October 6, 2022, were not reached. The same applies to the events of Parukh on March 24, 2022, and Saribab on August 1, 2022, when Azerbaijan again violated the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh. The logical continuation of this are the shootings by Azerbaijani armed forces in the presence of Russian peacekeepers towards people carrying out agricultural works, one of which ended with the killing of a tractor driver from Martakert; the intimidation of the Nagorno-Karabakh population with night lights and loudspeakers again in the presence of Russian peacekeepers; the thousands of violations of the ceasefire regime by the Azerbaijani armed forces again in the presence of Russian peacekeepers.

We advise the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry to refrain from maneuvering the circumstances of the situation and thereby further complicating it in the absence of actions from Russian peacekeepers towards the prevention of the blockade of the Lachin corridor or its opening afterwards.

We also reiterate that the Republic of Armenia is faithful to its commitment towards establishing stability in the region on the basis of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and borders. At the same time, we consider imperative for lasting peace the reopening of the Lachin corridor in accordance with the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and in line with the Orders of the International Court of Justice, the prevention of a humanitarian catastrophe in Nagorno-Karabakh and addressing of all existing problems through the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue under international auspices.”

 12:40,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. EU foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh during their meeting on August 31 in Spain, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said.

She said that Nagorno-Karabakh has been included in the agenda by herself and the French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

She described the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as “disastrous” and emphasized the importance of opening the Lachin Corridor, according to TASS news agency.

“We are resolutely calling upon Azerbaijan and Russia, that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh must eventually get what’s necessary for life. The Lachin Corridor must be open for humanitarian aid,” Baerbock said.

Baerbock added that discussions have been ongoing for several days with United States to guarantee that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh will receive humanitarian aid.

 12:57,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) President Arayik Harutyunyan has announced his intention to resign.

In a statement released on August 31, Harutyunyan said he will resign on Friday.

“I made this final decision two days ago, taking into account my contacts in the past weeks with all domestic and foreign actors and the public,” he added.

Harutyunyan said he will continue to live in Nagorno-Karabakh with his family and will support the authorities.

“This step is aimed, among others, at ensuring strong public order and domestic stability in Artsakh. Despite all difficulties, our domestic stability and public solidarity are preconditions for all successes, and any deviation or attempted deviation from this must be ruled out,” he added.

Harutyunyan also signed an executive order on dismissing State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan and replacing him with Secretary of the Security Council of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan.

 13:21,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia has approved the signing of the Agreement on the Status of the European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) between Armenia and the EU.

The approval was made at the Cabinet meeting on August 31.

The agreement complies with the Armenian law on International Treaties and is in line with the government’s foreign policy and international obligations, the foreign ministry said.

EUMA is a non-executive, non-armed civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Mission. EUMA observes and reports on the security situation along the Armenian side of the international border with Azerbaijan.

It was established in response to a request by Armenia.

 14:03,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. Major-general Kirill Kulakov of the Russian Armed Forces has been appointed as the new Commander of the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to ARTSAKHPRESS news agency.

Kulakov is replacing Colonel General Alexander Lentsov, who was serving since April 2023.

 14:25,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani authorities have once again falsely accused Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Army of conducting reinforcement works.

In a statement released Friday, the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Defense Ministry said the Azerbaijani side’s accusations are disinformation.

The Azeri side falsely claimed to have thwarted fortification works allegedly conducted by the Nagorno-Karabakh army in the Shushi region Friday morning.

 15:40,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister’s Advisor Artak Beglaryan has resigned.

Beglaryan resigned after State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan was dismissed Thursday by President Arayik Harutyunyan, who himself announced he would step down on Friday.

 16:39,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated on August 31 the transfer of 10 patients from blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for treatment, the Ministry of Healthcare of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) said in a press release.

The ICRC plans to transfer 1 patient, who’s completed treatment in Armenia, back to Nagorno-Karabakh later today. All patients are accompanied by their attendants.

34 children remain hospitalized in the Arevik clinic in Nagorno-Karabakh. 8 are in neonatal and intensive care.

Another 94 patients are hospitalized at the Republican Medical Center in Stepanakert. 7 are in intensive care (3 are critically-ill).

 16:53,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS. The European Court of Human Rights has given Azerbaijan by September 7 to provide information about the three students from Nagorno-Karabakh who were kidnapped by Azerbaijani border guards in Lachin Corridor on August 28, the Office of the Representative of Armenia for International Legal Matters said in a press release.