Pashinyan names Russia as Armenia’s key security partner

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin on Thursday, February 2 that the Russian Federation is the key partner of Armenia in the field of security, adding, however, that the situation “is not so good with us in the field of security.”

“You know that Lachin Corridor has been blocked for more than a month, and according to the trilateral statement of the President of the Russian Federation, the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia, it should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Now it turns out that the Lachin Corridor is not under the control of Russian peacekeepers, which creates specific problems,” he said.

“Now we can say that a humanitarian crisis is escalating in Nagorno Karabakh. It is a very important and sensitive issue in our bilateral relations. Unfortunately, we have certain issues in the field of security also in the multilateral format, in the CSTO, and we hope that we will manage to solve all these issues. We are working, we are interested, but unfortunately, frankly speaking, we see no progress in those directions.”

Since December 12, the sole road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia - the Lachin Corridor - has been blocked by self-described Azerbaijani environmentalists. Karabakh residents have reported food and fuel shortages, while hospital patients don't have access to essential medicines, with only a handful allowed transfer to facilities in Armenia proper.