11:27,
YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. The March 5 killings of the three Nagorno Karabakh police officers by Azerbaijani armed forces constitute a triple violation of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said Thursday.
“In spite of the February 22 ruling by the International Court of Justice, Azerbaijan continues to illegally block the only paved road of the Lachin Corridor which connects Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia. The humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh remains tense as a result of this. At the same time, we see concrete actions by Azerbaijan aimed at military escalation in the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh. A latest vivid manifestation of this was the killings of the three police officers in Nagorno Karabakh by an Azerbaijani sabotage team on March 5. As a reminder, the police officers were on-duty, traveling on board a passenger car en route to the villages of Hin Shen and Mets Shen in Nagorno Karabakh. This yet another incident took place in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh,” the Prime Minister said at the Cabinet meeting.
The PM noted that Russia formally recorded in its March 6 statement that Azerbaijan initiated the incident.
“The statement of the Russian Defense Ministry also noted that an investigation with participation of representatives of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan is underway to reveal the details of the incident,” the PM said. Pashinyan said the fact that the killings took place in the Lachin Corridor must receive a clear assessment.
“According to clause 6 of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, the Lachin Corridor isn’t just the road which has been blocked by Azerbaijan since 12 December 2022, it actually constitutes a 5 kilometer wide territory, a security zone. Thus, the killings perpetrated by Azerbaijan on March 5 constitute a triple violation of the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement. Not only were the Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire and line of contact violated, but also the five kilometer wide zone of the Lachin Corridor,” the PM said.