Pashinyan: It makes sense to consider deployment of Russian border guards

Mediamax presents key remarks.

Azerbaijan leaves all proposals unanswered

Despite the efforts of the Armenian government and the international community, the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is not stabilizing.

Azerbaijan continues to use aggressive rhetoric and actions, leaving unanswered all proposals of the international community for a political and lasting settlement.

I would like to reiterate the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on April 13, in which they called on the parties to resume the high-level political dialogue under the auspices of the Co-Chairs at the earliest opportunity. Azerbaijan has not responded to this call, while Armenia has repeatedly stressed its readiness to start the negotiation process at any time in the proposed format.

We have also expressed readiness to enter into a dialogue on issues beyond the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

Nevertheless, everything Azerbaijan does blocks any opportunity for dialogue, discrediting the November 9 and January 11 statements with rhetoric and actions.

Azerbaijan has yet to sign the peacekeepers’ mandate

Contrary to Paragraph 8 of the 9 November 2020 statement, Azerbaijan continues to hold fake trials of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees, sentencing them to many years of imprisonment. The fact that almost all the convicts were taken prisoner after November 9 in the areas of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers deserves special attention.

If we add this fact to the ongoing large-scale propaganda against peacekeepers in Azerbaijan and the fact that Azerbaijan has not yet signed the mandate of the peacekeepers, it becomes clear that this is a series of actions against Russian peacekeepers, i.e. stability and peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.

All regional communications should be unblocked

Azerbaijan is also taking consistent steps to discredit the opening of regional communications. Although none of the signed trilateral statements has the word or definition pertaining to “corridor” and no specific routes are indicated, Azerbaijan continues to raise the issue of a corridor, pointing to specific routes and directions.

Armenia has not discussed, does not discuss and will not discuss any issue of “corridor” logic, in the abovementioned formulations. Azerbaijan is trying to prevent the opening of regional communications, which is extremely important for us and is among the priorities of our government.

It is unequivocal for us that all regional transport and economic communications should be opened, and just as Armenia and Azerbaijan should have communication through Russia to Russia, Central Asia, and Iran, so Azerbaijan can have communication through Armenia, including to Nakhijevan, Georgia, and Iran. In order to implement this program, customs checkpoints will be set up at the relevant border points, which will be crossed from both sides internationally, in accordance with the rules adopted in the CIS, for example, with customs, border and other controls.

Azerbaijan is trying to discredit CSTO

Azerbaijani Armed Forces not only remain illegally in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, but also continue to take provocative actions, trying to discredit the Collective Security Treaty system.

As a CSTO member that will assume the chairmanship of the organization this September, Armenia understands its responsibility not to cause security threats to the CSTO and not to involve allied countries in hostilities. At the same time, I think that one of the possible solutions to find out the authenticity of Armenia and Azerbaijan’s mutual accusations may be the deployment of the CSTO monitoring mission along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which is envisaged by the CSTO regulations. Given the impossibility of such activities within the CSTO, other formats can be acceptable to us, including the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.

It makes sense to deployment of Russian border guards

In the current situation, I think it makes sense to consider deployment of Russian border guards along the entire Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which will allow delimitation and demarcation to be carried out without the risk of military clashes. We are going to discuss this topic with our Russian partners.

Mediamax presents key remarks.

Azerbaijan leaves all proposals unanswered

Despite the efforts of the Armenian government and the international community, the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is not stabilizing.

Azerbaijan continues to use aggressive rhetoric and actions, leaving unanswered all proposals of the international community for a political and lasting settlement.

I would like to reiterate the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on April 13, in which they called on the parties to resume the high-level political dialogue under the auspices of the Co-Chairs at the earliest opportunity. Azerbaijan has not responded to this call, while Armenia has repeatedly stressed its readiness to start the negotiation process at any time in the proposed format.

We have also expressed readiness to enter into a dialogue on issues beyond the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

Nevertheless, everything Azerbaijan does blocks any opportunity for dialogue, discrediting the November 9 and January 11 statements with rhetoric and actions.

Azerbaijan has yet to sign the peacekeepers’ mandate

Contrary to Paragraph 8 of the 9 November 2020 statement, Azerbaijan continues to hold fake trials of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees, sentencing them to many years of imprisonment. The fact that almost all the convicts were taken prisoner after November 9 in the areas of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers deserves special attention.

If we add this fact to the ongoing large-scale propaganda against peacekeepers in Azerbaijan and the fact that Azerbaijan has not yet signed the mandate of the peacekeepers, it becomes clear that this is a series of actions against Russian peacekeepers, i.e. stability and peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.

All regional communications should be unblocked

Azerbaijan is also taking consistent steps to discredit the opening of regional communications. Although none of the signed trilateral statements has the word or definition pertaining to “corridor” and no specific routes are indicated, Azerbaijan continues to raise the issue of a corridor, pointing to specific routes and directions.

Armenia has not discussed, does not discuss and will not discuss any issue of “corridor” logic, in the abovementioned formulations. Azerbaijan is trying to prevent the opening of regional communications, which is extremely important for us and is among the priorities of our government.

It is unequivocal for us that all regional transport and economic communications should be opened, and just as Armenia and Azerbaijan should have communication through Russia to Russia, Central Asia, and Iran, so Azerbaijan can have communication through Armenia, including to Nakhijevan, Georgia, and Iran. In order to implement this program, customs checkpoints will be set up at the relevant border points, which will be crossed from both sides internationally, in accordance with the rules adopted in the CIS, for example, with customs, border and other controls.

Azerbaijan is trying to discredit CSTO

Azerbaijani Armed Forces not only remain illegally in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, but also continue to take provocative actions, trying to discredit the Collective Security Treaty system.

As a CSTO member that will assume the chairmanship of the organization this September, Armenia understands its responsibility not to cause security threats to the CSTO and not to involve allied countries in hostilities. At the same time, I think that one of the possible solutions to find out the authenticity of Armenia and Azerbaijan’s mutual accusations may be the deployment of the CSTO monitoring mission along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which is envisaged by the CSTO regulations. Given the impossibility of such activities within the CSTO, other formats can be acceptable to us, including the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.

It makes sense to deployment of Russian border guards

In the current situation, I think it makes sense to consider deployment of Russian border guards along the entire Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which will allow delimitation and demarcation to be carried out without the risk of military clashes. We are going to discuss this topic with our Russian partners.