VIDEO: Nikol Pashinyan on the Real Reasons Behind the Closure of the Lachin Corridor

Various justifications have been presented regarding the closure of the Lachin Corridor, but the deepest and most real reason is that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh continue to live in their homeland. This statement was made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan before the start of a government meeting.

"The illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan has been ongoing for 25 days. This action has caused a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and has drawn wide international response calls for unblocking the corridor. Despite this, Azerbaijan is not taking any steps to resolve the issue," said Pashinyan.

According to him, Azerbaijan is grossly violating the November 9, 2020 statement, which raises serious questions about Baku's contractual capacity. At the same time, Azerbaijan is attempting to assign the responsibility of non-compliance to Armenia, which Pashinyan stated is absolutely fictitious.

The Prime Minister also noted that the international community has begun to clearly document Azerbaijan's visible policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan added that more concrete actions are expected from the international community, including from Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, whose peacekeeping forces are deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh, and it is their direct responsibility to keep the Lachin Corridor under their control as per the November 9, 2020 statement.

For more details, watch the video.

It is important to note that on the morning of December 12, a group of Azerbaijanis in civilian clothes blocked the Stepanakert-Goris highway connecting Artsakh to Armenia under the pretext of environmental reasons, at the Shushi-Karin Tak junction. From December 13, the Azerbaijani side also cut off the gas supply to Artsakh. On the morning of December 16, the State Minister of Artsakh, Ruben Vardanyan, reported that gas supply to Artsakh has been restored without any preconditions. However, the Lachin Corridor continues to remain closed.