Armenian Vehicles Travel in Convoy with Russian Border Guards and NSS Escort

Residents express concern as traffic on the Goris-Kapan highway has decreased. Kapan Mayor Gevorg Parsyan stated in an interview with Factinfo that the situation remains unchanged in the Vorotan section of the Goris-Kapan highway, where the Azerbaijani checkpoint continues to be established. Armenian vehicles are passing through this section of the road in a convoy escorted by Russian border guards and the NSS of Armenia.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and representatives of the government claim that the area where Azerbaijanis have illegally established themselves is considered Azerbaijani territory according to Soviet-era maps. Gevorg Parsyan responded to the question of what consequences this will bring, and whether such statements by the authorities legitimize the provocative actions of the adversary, stating that this is the government’s attempt to justify its powerlessness. “As long as the demarcation and delimitation work with Azerbaijan have not been carried out, in my opinion, we should avoid such formulations in any case, and we should not say that these areas are Azerbaijani,” said Parsyan.

It is worth recalling that just days ago, two residents of Qasakh went missing while traveling on the Goris-Kapan road. According to the NSS of Armenia, the Qasakh residents deviated from the main road and ended up in an area controlled by Azerbaijan, despite this road being a straight route with no deviation possible, thus it is highly likely that the residents were abducted by Azerbaijanis. Regarding the incident, the Mayor of Kapan stated, “According to my information, they were intentionally moving towards the banks of the Vorotan River, as I have been told, for relaxation purposes. They will respond more specifically as to what purpose they were moving in that direction. There is a road there—that is the highway; it is simply not possible to deviate unless there is another motive involved,” said Parsyan.