The President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, referred to the problem of the Azerbaijanis closing the Stepanakert-Goris highway.

“Dear compatriots,

The Azerbaijani side closed the only highway connecting Artsakh to Armenia for the second time with false and fictitious reasons.

First of all, the aggressive behavior of Azerbaijan, through which it terrorizes our population and puts our vital rights and interests under attack, is highly unacceptable for us. This is an unprecedented challenge for our state and people, because one of the goals of the Azerbaijani authorities is to incite internal division and panic in Artsakh.

The authorities and the people of Artsakh have clear values, principles and red lines, for the protection of which we are making and will make all possible efforts, sometimes invisible.

We are sure that the Russian peacekeeping forces, as a guarantor of the safety of our people and the road, will use all tools to prevent such provocations and violations of agreements against the vital rights and interests of our people.

Other actors of the international community also have important work to do, because the actions of the Azerbaijani side grossly violate the well-known norms of international law, and Azerbaijan strives for ethnic cleansing and depatriation of the people of Artsakh.

Artsakh was and will be Armenian through our united and determined efforts against all challenges.”

As we have already reported, a group of Azerbaijanis in civilian clothes closed the Stepanakert-Goris highway at 10:30 this morning, again for environmental reasons.

As of 14:00, the road remains closed in both directions.