The natural gas supply to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has been restored, but it can be cut off again at any time because Azerbaijan controls a significant part of the natural gas pipeline and has placed on it a valve that can be turned on or off at any time. Artak Beglaryan, adviser to the Minister of State as well as former Minister of State and ex-ombudsman of Artsakh, who is staging a sit-in in front of the UN office in Armenia since Wednesday, told reporters about this on Friday.

"The [Lachin] road remains completely closed, there is no change, there is a certain positive trend just from the course of the [respective] negotiations [with the Azerbaijanis]. That is, there is hope that it may be [re]opened, but we cannot say what will happen; we have no grounds for trusting the Azerbaijani side.

The [natural] gas supply was restored without any compromise; just as a result of international pressure. The blockade of Artsakh and the halting of [its natural] gas supply caused quite a big international resonance. And the Russian side is working in that regard, and various international organizations, including the UN. The UN Secretary General's statement was also a means of pressure. The US, France, EU [also] have made [such] statements. I am also informed that there is internal pressure, too. There is also the decision of the ECtHR, which has given Azerbaijan until [next] Monday to provide information on what Azerbaijan has done to eliminate these human rights violations; this is one of the forms of pressure," said Beglaryan.

According to him, it is also necessary to obtain long-term guarantees for the safety of Artsakh Armenians to prevent similar incidents in the future.

"It should be clear that from now on Azerbaijan will pay a high price for committing such terrorist, genocidal acts; and that ‘price’ shall be in the form of punishment. It is important that the UN Security Council assume a clear commitment by providing a mandate on what safeguards are in place for security. It can be the Russian peacekeepers, multinational peacekeepers. What is important is the mandate given by the UN Security Council, and it is important that the specialized organizations of the UN have a permanent representation in Artsakh. It could be UNESCO, rapid response teams, a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The EU, France, the US can be actors. It is important for us that there be a consensus on the matter of guaranteeing  the safety, rights of the people of Artsakh. Also, there should be an internationally guaranteed long-term process toward the settlement of the conflict and the recognition of Artsakh," said Beglaryan.

And to the question of what answers the UN Security Council member countries’ embassies in Armenia gave to their respective petitions and letters, Artak Beglaryan responded that there was no answer.

"We were not so full of hope either that there would be answers from them," he added.