Comment of the MFA Spokesperson in response to media inquiries.

Question: How would you comment on the formulations made by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation on June 21 regarding the incident near the Hakari Bridge on June 15?

Answer: In response to the comment of the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, I should mention the following.

The incident of June 15 did not take place in the Lachin corridor, as the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry states, but in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, on the Armenian side of the Hakari bridge.

There is an obvious contradiction in the comment of the Russian side. If, due to the absence of the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is not possible to clearly say where exactly the border line passes, and this is the reason for the ongoing problems, as the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry claims, then the following question arises: on what basis and principle was on June 15 an Azerbaijani flag being placed on this side of the bridge, on that concrete part of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan? It should be stated that literally the same thesis is repeated by the Azerbaijani side when carrying out aggressive actions against the borders of the Republic of Armenia and during the incursions into Armenia’s sovereign territory.

It is unclear why the Russian peacekeepers took part in that operation, when both the purpose and even the place of the operation were clearly outside of the functions and area of responsibility of the peacekeepers. We would like to remind: the only established function of the Russian peacekeepers was to control the 5 km wide Lachin corridor.

Apart from this, after the incident of June 15, the Azerbaijani side completely blocked the Lachin corridor, as a result of which even humanitarian supplies, including food and medicaments, are not transported to Nagorno-Karabakh, including even by the ICRC; critically ill patients who need appropriate medical care are not transferred from Nagorno-Karabakh to medical institutions of the Republic of Armenia, gas and electricity supplies remain disrupted.

In conclusion, we would like to call on the parties which signed the Trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 as well as other trilateral statements of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan to unequivocally fulfil their commitments instead of looking for justifications.