MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Armenia is counting on Russia’s participation in ensuring the security of the Nagorno-Karabakh population, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at a news conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow on Monday.

"Without in any way downplaying the role of our Russian partners in the process of establishing a ceasefire in 2020, as well as the role of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, including in preventing a humanitarian disaster after the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the emerging situation demonstrates the need for mechanisms to guarantee the rights and security of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, and for international participation in them," the top diplomat said.

"It is necessary to employ international mechanisms for the prevention of genocide, as well as to dispatch an international fact-finding mission to the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh. We are hoping for cooperation with the Russian side on this issue," he added.

Earlier, an EU civilian monitoring mission began its work in the border areas at Yerevan’s invitation. At that time, the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that Yerevan preferred to opt for the EU, without allowing the work being done on the track pursued by the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s mission in the region to come to its logical conclusion. On February 20, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova emphasized that Moscow saw the EU civilian mission in Armenia as having exclusively geopolitical motives, far removed from the interests of normalization in the South Caucasus, and as an attempt to squeeze Russia out of the region.

Later, Yerevan came out in favor of dispatching an international fact-finding mission to the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh.