Russian peacekeeping forces at the site of the Azerbaijani ambush on an Artsakh police vehicle

In a statement addressing Sunday’s deadly attack by Azerbaijani forces, who ambushed an Artsakh police vehicle killing three officers, France’s foreign ministry did not hesitate to blame Azerbaijan for targeting the officers.

“We mourn the casualties caused by the serious incident on March 5, when a vehicle carrying police officers traveling near the Lachin Corridor was targeted by Azerbaijani forces in the area under the responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces,” a spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday.

“It is important to shed light be shed on the facts. We also call for strict respect for the ceasefire,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Yerevan amplified its calls for the need to dispatch an international observer mission to the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh when Armenian officials met with the U.S. and French Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group who are separately visiting Yerevan on Tuesday.

Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan on Tuesday met with Brice Roquefeuil, the French Minsk Group co-chair and discussed the ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Artsakh.

According to a press statement from Grigoryan’s office, the two underscored the need for implementing the binding ruling by the International Court of Justice regarding the opening of the Lachin Corridor.

Grigoryan drew Roquefeuil’s attention to the March 5 terror attack by the Azerbaijani military in Nagorno Karabakh and emphasized the imperative for international presence in Nagorno Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor.

Grigoryan later met with Louis Bono, United States Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, and the U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk, with whom a similar discussion took place.

“The illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan and its consequences were discussed, and in this context Secretary Grigoryan attached importance to the necessity for sending an international fact-finding team to Lachin Corridor and Nagorno Karabakh,” the national security chief.