Chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the regular Cabinet meeting took place today.

Before discussing the issues on the agenda, the Prime Minister referred to the UN Security Council session on the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted by the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor.

The Prime Minister specifically noted:

“Dear participants of the Cabinet meeting,

Dear people,

Yesterday, the UN Security Council held an urgent discussion on the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted by the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor. If we summarize the discussion, we can record the following.

First, the fact of Lachin Corridor being closed was emphasized at the highest international body. Of course, it may seem strange to the Armenian public that I am saying this as something recorded at the discussion in the Security Council, but we should not forget that Azerbaijan constantly and continuously insists that the Lachin Corridor is not closed.

Second, the discussion in the UN Security Council confirmed the existence of a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and the fact that the lives and safety of 120 thousand people of Nagorno-Karabakh are in doubt.

Thirdly, it was emphasized that Azerbaijan failed to implement the decision of the International Court of Justice to ensure uninterrupted movement of people, vehicles and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor.

Now we can record that the truth about the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh has been raised at the highest international body. Also, a collective call was made by the international community to Azerbaijan to eliminate the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor.

Of course, this call has not been implemented at the moment and 22 trucks with around 400 tons of humanitarian cargo are waiting for the opportunity to enter Nagorno-Karabakh at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno Karabakh is worsening day by day. at the same time, the people of Karabakh carrying out agricultural work report about appearing under fire of the armed forces of Azerbaijan, aimed at depriving them of the opportunity to harvest.

On the one hand, Azerbaijan has blocked the entry of 100 tons of flour by the Armenian government to Nagorno Karabakh, on the other hand, it does not allow the people of Nagorno Karabakh to harvest their grain to have flour. This is another fact that substantiates the thesis put forward by international experts that Azerbaijan is subjecting the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh to genocide by subjecting them to starvation, and therefore the opening of the Lachin Corridor should be considered a step aimed at preventing genocide. I think the international community should focus on this perception.

At the same time, I must repeat what I said before that the best solution to the created situation is the removal of the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan, the start of the Stepanakert-Baku dialogue within the framework of an international mechanism.

The Republic of Armenia, for its part, continues to reaffirm its commitment to the peace agenda and calls on official Baku to refrain from taking steps aimed at nullifying the historical opportunity to establish peace.”