YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. At this moment there is no approved plan between Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on building a new route for traffic through Lachin Corridor, PM Pashinyan said.

The PM said that for their pretext of this current escalation Azerbaijan is using the issue of a new route of Lachin Corridor, as if they have completed the construction of a new route of Lachin Corridor and therefore several parts of the current corridor must be transferred under their control. “This kind of terming and statements from Azerbaijan are again a gross violation of the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement, and here is why. Point 6 of the trilateral statement says: ‘With agreement of the parties, meaning Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, a plan for the construction of a new route along the Lachin corridor shall be determined within the next three years, providing communication between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, with the subsequent redeployment of Russian peacekeeping troops to protect this route.’ For the record, at this moment there is no trilateral-format approved plan by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and for several times we have offered and continue offering to do it, to approve a plan under a trilateral format. Pay attention that the statement mentions not simply the construction of a new road, but a plan to build it and the redeployment of peacekeeping troops, which is a very difficult and trilateral process. As of this moment, we haven't given consent to any plan, because we haven’t even been offered any draft plan, although I have to underscore that Armenia has launched the construction of the Kornidzor-Tegh-M12 road, which must supposedly connect with the new route in Lachin corridor. But I repeat, the trilateral statement doesn’t simply mention the construction of a new road. As part of the plan, several important issues must be clarified, including the electricity and gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh, security-related issues,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said that now Azerbaijan is falsely accusing Armenia in trying to avoid the discussion of these issues. “This is an absurd statement, because I have announced the abovementioned plan publicly, back during my June 27 online press conference. Furthermore, Azerbaijan resorted to escalations in Nagorno Karabakh during the days when the construction of the Kornidzor-Tegh-M12 road was launched. And before that, a public, competitive tender process was taking place to select a construction company. Azerbaijan’s escalation in these conditions seeks one goal – to eliminate the mechanisms defined by the November 9, 2020 statement,” the PM said.

Prime Minister Pashinyan said that Azerbaijan considers the trilateral statement to be its victory and today it has the objective to eliminate this statement and avoid the stipulation of the realities enshrined in the statement.

Pashinyan announced that Armenia fulfilled all obligations that it assumed under the trilateral statement, whereas Azerbaijan still has to fulfill three of its obligations. “First, Azerbaijan has to accept the existence of the entity of Nagorno Karabakh – recorded with the signature of the Azerbaijani president himself, it has to respect the existence of the line of contact in Nagorno Karabakh and it must respect the existence of the Lachin Corridor which is the most important institution ensuring Armenia’s connection with NK,” the PM said.

“If not, then we must include in our agenda the international mechanisms aimed at respecting the signed obligations, so that through the launch of international mechanisms Azerbaijan respects the obligations it assumed under its own signature,” the Armenian PM said.