Artsakh has been under siege for 191 days.
Artsakh has been under the Azerbaijani blockade for 191 days, and during this time, the movement of people and humanitarian goods has been carried out exclusively by the Red Cross and peacekeepers.
And now, for 6 days, 120,000 people of Artsakh are in complete isolation and siege, without any supply and movement even by support of the Red Cross and peacekeepers, Artak Beglaryan, Adviser to the Minister of State of Artsakh, wrote on his Facebook page.
“The attached photos show how Azerbaijani armored vehicles have closed the only road between Artsakh and Armenia in recent days, near their illegal checkpoint.
Is this their guarantee for “free movement” with which they lie to the whole world, falsely claiming that there is no blockade?”.
Artsakh is rapidly falling into the abyss of a security and humanitarian disaster, and all the states should take their share of responsibility and prevent the impending tragedy, instead of blaming each other.
“We expect the most urgent and practical steps from Armenia, Russia, the US, France, the EU, UN and all other actors, and we expect major pressure on everyone from the Diaspora-Armenians,” Artak Beglaryan wrote.
In the Hin Shen Community, which is in the double siege of Shushi region, even the residents with serious illnesses are deprived of the opportunity to move to medical institutions and receive appropriate medical care.
Samvel Sargsyan, Head of the Old Shen Community, said in a conversation with “Artsakhpress”.
“Prior to the bilateral blockade, in agreement with the Minister of State, we were supposed to transport seriously ill persons accompanied by Russian peacekeepers to appropriate medical institutions, which, however, became impossible due to the recent incidents,” explained the head of the community.
According to him, now the village has a certain amount of essential medicine, which they managed to get before the double blockade.
“As of now, the community also has flour, sugar, and vegetables. Soon, with the help of the Red Cross, food will be delivered again. Some types of fruits have already ripened. We will also use the vegetables we have cultivated for a month,” said our interlocutor, adding that this year they have increased the sowing of a number of crops, including potatoes and greens. To some extent, they are able to replenish the food supply with the food obtained from animal husbandry.
The Mayor also considered the problem related to the student from Hin Shen, who could not return from the village to the capital city due to the blockade, to participate at least in the exam period.
On 20 June, Artsakh Republic State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan called a meeting on ensuring food security and economy work under the existing conditions.
The Information and Public Relations Department of the State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh reported.
“Minister of Agriculture Georgi Hayriyan presented the situation related to domestic food production, the possibilities of meat production, preparations for harvesting autumn crops and production volumes of spring and greenhouse farms and related problems. Other officials also made presentations.
The State Minister, referring to the fact that the limited transportation of humanitarian goods from Artsakh, which is under a six-month blockade, has been completely blocked by Azerbaijan since June 15, in particular, stated:
“Even though we are under siege since 12 December, 2022 however, and during that time, having very few opportunities, we have been able to somewhat improve our food security level. Because of this, we now have a greater degree of resilience. There is no need to panic. Of course, we will have a feeling of shortage regarding this or that type of product; we already have a problem with sugar and oil. We have opportunities for critical moments, but we will not resort to their use now. We have a stable situation in terms of flour and other basic necessities.”
Gurgen Nersisyan, emphasizing proper communication with the public, emphasized that food safety is one of the main topics of public concern, but, on the other hand, it is not possible to talk about it in a completely open manner, because it is related to security importance issues.
The Minister of State emphasized that the existing very limited fuel reserves should be used sparingly and when necessary. “For this purpose, we have reduced fuel consumption by the state system to almost zero; we will try to organize the work of public transport and agricultural works. Fuel is provided to physical persons mainly for issues related to health problems and subjecting each individual case to a separate study,” G. Nersisyan said.
During the consultation, the problems of the created situation and ways of solving them were discussed. The Minister of State gave a number of instructions to quickly develop and implement such programs that will allow collecting all domestic resources, collecting the domestic product and organizing its equal distribution and realization.
