Pashinian charged that Russian peacekeeping forces have become a “silent witness” to Baku’s efforts to cleanse Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population. He said Moscow should come up with a plan to unblock the corridor or seek a larger and multinational peacekeeping mission in Karabakh.
“If the Russian Federation is unable to ensure stability and security in Nagorno-Karabakh for objective or subjective reasons, I think that it should initiate a discussion in the UN Security Council and raise the issue of granting the Russian Federation's peacekeeping force in Nagorno-Karabakh a mandate from the UN Security Council or sending an additional, multinational peacekeeping force to Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said during a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
Russia was quick to reject the criticism, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova insisting that the Russian peacekeepers are “doing everything to settle the situation on the ground.”
“No public attacks can help matters,” Zakharova told reporters. “There have been worse situations [in the Karabakh conflict zone.] We are working to improve the situation.”
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that Moscow is concerned about the road blockade and will continue to comply with Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by it.
According to the RIA Novosti news agency, Peskov said Putin and Pashinian discussed the Azerbaijani blockade “in great detail” when they met in Saint-Petersburg on Tuesday. He did not elaborate on that discussion, saying instead that “conversations about this will continue.”
Putin and Pashinian held the talks the day after attending an informal summit of the leaders of former Soviet republics. Putin said that he, Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “managed to talk” during the summit.
Government-backed Azerbaijani protesters have since continued to block traffic through the Lachin corridor. They are demanding that Baku be allowed to inspect “illegal” mining operations in Karabakh.
Pashinian already criticized the Russian response to the blockade on December 22. He said both Baku and Moscow are not complying with the 2020 ceasefire agreement that placed the Lachin corridor under Russian control and committed the Azerbaijani side to guaranteeing free and safe traffic through it.
The blockade, which began on December 12, is causing growing shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods in Karabakh.
Pashinian said on Thursday that he has set up an interagency working group tasked with “helping the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.” His government also approved 4 billion drams ($10 million) in urgent humanitarian and economic assistance to Karabakh. It was not clear how this aid will be delivered to the Armenian-populated region.
