Recent Attack Occurs Amid Ongoing Negotiations Between Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh has released a statement regarding the latest aggression by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, noting:

"On the night of June 27-28, 2023, the Azerbaijani armed forces, grossly violating the ceasefire regime and the provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, launched strikes against the positions of the Artsakh Defense Army using artillery and attack drones, as well as on objects located deep within the territory of Artsakh, resulting in the death of four servicemen of the Artsakh Defense Army.

The repeated attempts of the Azerbaijani side to blame these strikes on the Artsakh side are baseless. This is also evidenced by the words of the Azerbaijani Minister of Defense, who stated in an interview on June 26, just two days before the aforementioned attack, that the Artsakh Defense Army does not pose any threat to Azerbaijan while simultaneously threatening to conduct military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh with a full corps. Essentially, the Azerbaijani Minister of Defense has admitted that his country is the aggressor and is militarizing the conflict zone.

This unwarranted attack, which has resulted in human casualties, once again demonstrates that Azerbaijan has not abandoned its plans to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through military force. The strikes on June 28 by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the territory of Artsakh, along with previous shellings and assaults on civilians, are evident manifestations of the genocidal policy being systematically pursued by Azerbaijan in the absence of resistance from the international community.

We once again draw the international community's attention to the fact that for about 200 days, Artsakh has been under a complete blockade that is increasingly becoming harsher and inhumane. The population of the Republic is deprived of gas and electricity supplies. For the last 14 days, Azerbaijan has completely blocked humanitarian shipments to the Republic of Artsakh, which had been carried out in a limited manner by the Russian peacekeeping forces and the International Committee of the Red Cross over the past six months.

The Azerbaijani authorities do not even hide their intentions to carry out ethnic cleansing. This has been publicly stated numerous times by the president of that country. The statement made by the Azerbaijani Minister of Defense on June 26, saying that residents of Artsakh who do not wish to recognize Baku's authority should leave their homeland, is yet another indication of Baku's real objectives towards Artsakh and its people.

We also emphasize that, as has often been the case before or during significant meetings, the attack on June 28 occurred against the backdrop of the latest round of negotiations between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan that began in Washington yesterday, reaffirming that Baku is trying to impose its maximalist demands on the Armenian side through coercion, including the use of military force.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Baku is not prepared to engage in negotiations in good faith, as evidenced by the statements made by the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister in an interview with Reuters on June 23, 2023. In particular, he rejected the idea of international guarantees for the rights and security of the people of Artsakh, arguing that it is supposedly an internal affair of Azerbaijan. By attempting to present the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the issue of securing the rights and safety of the people of Artsakh, as an internal issue of Azerbaijan, the authorities of that country are actually seeking to legitimize their plans aimed at the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh.

Such statements also indicate that Baku is trying to undermine the efforts of international actors aimed at creating conditions for a peaceful and comprehensive resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In this context, the statement made by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs just a few days before the armed attack, claiming that the country is ready to assist the people of Artsakh, is an extreme manifestation of cynicism. The best assistance Azerbaijan can provide is to unwaveringly adhere to the ceasefire regime, lift the transportation and energy blockade of the Republic of Artsakh, and fully implement the provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, as well as the legally binding decision of the International Court of Justice of February 22, 2023, regarding free, safe, and unobstructed movement through the Lachin corridor in both directions.

It should be noted that inflicting intentional suffering on the 120,000 residents of Artsakh due to the complete blockade of the Lachin corridor and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis is tantamount to a war crime under international law.

We reiterate that the international community as a whole, and all international actors engaged in the peace process, particularly the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, bear direct responsibility for preventing further deepening of the humanitarian and security crisis in Artsakh as well as for creating conditions for a peaceful and comprehensive resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on international norms and principles, and for ensuring lasting peace and stability in the region.

In this regard, we once again insist that the latter should utilize all means and tools at their disposal to ensure Azerbaijan's compliance with all provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and the immediate execution of the legally binding decision of the International Court of Justice of February 22, 2023."