20:56, 1 August 2023
YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. On August 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a telephone conversation with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric Egger.
Mirzoyan and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger discussed the humanitarian crisis resulting from the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan, the foreign ministry said in a readout.
Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the imperative to immediately lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor and the urgency of delivery of food, medicine and other basic necessities to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Minister Mirzoyan stressed the importance of ensuring under current circumstances the proper and continuous functioning of the ICRC, the only international humanitarian organization with access to Nagorno-Karabakh and described Azerbaijan's attempts to hinder the humanitarian activities of the ICRC and discredit it as condemnable. In this context, Minister Mirzoyan touched upon the abduction of Vagif Khachatryan by the Azerbaijani border service on July 29, who, having serious health issues, was being transported from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for medical treatment. The minister called this act perfidious and unacceptable, running counter to the norms of international humanitarian law and aimed at ethnic cleansing of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.