Russia says doing its best to prevent humanitarian disaster in Nagorno Karabakh

(Armradio) – Russia is concerned over the continuing blockade of the Lachin corridor, Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Federation to UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said at the Security Council meeting on Nagorno Karabakh.

“Now as never before we need actual steps to be made on the ground in order to ensure prompt de-escalation of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, including the unblocking of the Lachin corridor and use of other humanitarian routes,” he said.

“With support from the both sides, Russia is taking maximum efforts to ensure the soonest possible resolution of the crisis and promote overall normalization of relations of our two friendly nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan. We do our best to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the region. For this purpose, we engage at all levels of political and diplomatic channels, and also take action on the ground via the Russian peacekeeping contingent,” the Russian envoy noted.

“We maintain energetic contacts with all stakeholders with an aim of immediate recovery of sustained deliveries to Nagorno-Karabakh of food, medications, and other basic necessity items, as well as resumption of electricity and gas supply,” Polyanskiy said.

He noted that “the statements by President of Russia, President of Azerbaijan, and Prime Minister of Armenia of 2020-2022 remain a mandatory roadmap for reconciliation of Baku and Yerevan” and added that “the potential of trilateral agreements has not been exhausted.”

“Their key aspects are delimitation and subsequent demarcation of Armenian-Azerbaijani border with expert support from Russia, unblocking of transportation links under the auspices of the Trilateral Working Group co-chaired by Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, assistance with elaboration of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty, facilitation of parliamentary and public activists’ dialogue. There is some progress on each of these tracks. Russia intends to proceed with meaningful efforts,” Russia’s representative said.

“Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation is unthinkable unless there are clear and reliable security guarantees and observance of the rights of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh on the basis of universally recognized international principles within Azerbaijan’s legal framework. This logic follows from the repeatedly confirmed recent agreements of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on mutual recognition by the parties of each other’s territorial integrity in accordance with the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration,” he added.

“At the talks of the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan that took place in Moscow on July 25, our side proposed realistic compromise-based solutions for de-escalation, which the parties have taken into consideration. I refer to the proposed parallel opening of passages through Aghdam and Lachin for civilians and non-military cargo. This will create the necessary prerequisites for an early launch of direct dialogue between the authorized representatives of official Baku and the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Dmitry Polyanskiy stated.

“Mutual commitments of the parties to refrain from politicizing purely humanitarian issues stand in no smaller demand. We trust that all participants in the process will find the political will to overcome their contradictions in order to alleviate the plight of tens of thousands of Nagorno-Karabakh residents and have a sustained Baku-Stepanakert dialogue,” he noted.

“We are ready to engage with all responsible stakeholders who are interested in normalization of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation at large. Those who truly adhere to this scenario, which is based on the fundamental interests of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples, should put aside geopolitical and all sorts of domestic political considerations. We also call for a responsible approach to the use of the Security Council platform in this context. In any case, it is Baku and Yerevan who should resolve these problems. No externally imposed schemes and solutions will replace their dialogue. For our part, we will continue to encourage such dialogue, bringing the parties closer to an original good-neighborly solution, i.a. by employing the potential of the Russian peacekeeping contingent,” the Russian diplomat concluded.