Azerbaijan Continues to Demand Other Concessions in Exchange for Opening Berdzor Road

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports: In exchange for opening the Berdzor road, Azerbaijan continues to demand other concessions. The demands include the release of Ruben Vartanian, the installation of an X-ray machine at the Artsakh checkpoint, permission for monitoring at the Kashen mine, and the withdrawal of heavy military equipment from Artsakh. Our sources indicate that the Azerbaijani side places great importance on the issue of the X-ray machine.

They insist that such a device should be installed at the checkpoint… During the negotiations, the Azerbaijanis initially raised only the issue of inspecting cargo vehicles to alleviate their suspicions that dangerous cargo, such as weapons, could be transported from Armenia. The Artsakh side has made a counter-demand: if Azerbaijan does not abandon the idea, then they can only install the device and monitor the vehicles remotely; that is, the Russian peacekeepers must continue to carry out supervision at the checkpoint, and Azerbaijani controllers should not be stationed there. In other words, the content of the trilateral statement from November 9 should not be violated.

It is noteworthy that the day before, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, who visited Baku, announced that the establishment of any control checkpoint in the Lachin corridor is not planned, and the operating regime of the corridor must fully comply with the requirements of the trilateral statement of November 9.

We also reported yesterday that the recent negotiations in Baku-Stepanakert were attended by the President of Artsakh, the Secretary of the Security Council, and the leader of one of the NGOs from the Artsakh side. We learned that the Azerbaijani delegation was headed by the head of the KGB, accompanied by other officials as well.

For more details, see today's issue of the newspaper.