The situation is developing on the Hakari bridge connecting Armenia with Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of the opposition "With Honor" Faction of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and a security expert, said this to reporters at the NA Tuesday.

"The Hakari river and the bridge are located in the immediate vicinity of Kornidzor village of the Republic of Armenia. Taking into account the fact that Azerbaijan, in fact, has unilaterally ‘aggressively’ closed the bridge and is trying to install a passport checkpoint [there], my impression is that Russia was not aware of Azerbaijan's initiative. The Russian peacekeepers stationed in Artsakh are trying to prevent Azerbaijan from completing its initiative. It was also evident from the statement of the Russian foreign ministry, which recorded that it was not agreed with the Russian Federation, and the change in the logic of the [Lachin] corridor contradicts the provisions of the tripartite document," added the Armenian opposition MP.

According to him, it is obvious that the arrangement between Russia and Azerbaijan was also broken.

"Based on this, the Russian Federation is trying in every possible way to prevent the implementation of that checkpoint regime on the spot. Negotiations are going on on location at a small level, but the main thing has been shifted to the political level. At the moment, it is very difficult to say what the result will be," Abrahamyan said.

When asked whether it was possible to take steps before reaching this situation, the Armenian opposition lawmaker said: "Azerbaijan's impudence comes from the fact that after the signing of the [trilateral] document on November 9, 2020, these provisions were repeatedly violated by Azerbaijan, and they did not receive a proper response in any way. (…).”

Abrahamyan noted that for now it is not clear which way the process will go.

"It is difficult to say whether we will have a checkpoint as a final result or whether we will reach a conclusion by political means and the regime that worked will remain. When I say that the Russian side is taking steps on the spot, it is based on the videos and the testimonies of the people who were stranded on that road, which show the Azerbaijani troops, the Azerbaijani internal troops are also operating there, and anti-tank devices are also visible; a large number of troops are brought forward. The Russian side tried, through the peacekeepers, to create a certain strength and resistance on the spot," the Armenian opposition legislator said.

When asked who should have punished Azerbaijan? Abrahamyan responded: "There are three sides to the tripartite document here. The political power of Armenia and its leader actually declare that they own only the territory of the Republic of Armenia and consider the issues related to Artsakh exclusively in the context of humanitarian issues. Naturally, in this situation, to wait or expect equivalent steps from the authorities of Armenia does not fit into the logic.

“Russia has specific obligations related to that corridor. It is natural that first of all the expectations are from Russia. When we say the ‘international community,’ we also mean the EU, the US because various international organizations have also adopted relevant resolutions, various bodies of international justice have made decisions, but Azerbaijan does not implement them. Failure to implement [them] implies that they should have been discussed at a much higher political level within international organizations as well, which was not done. If those three centers either threatened Azerbaijan with sanctions or launched pressure, it was natural that Azerbaijan would fall. The situation is getting more and more serious."

And to the question as to how he evaluate the steps being taken by the Armenian authorities in this regard, taking into account the fact that Armenia is the guarantor of Artsakh's security, Tigran Abrahamyan responded: "The authorities of Armenia have already stated that they no longer have a mission as the guarantor of the security of Artsakh. This has become one of the main incentives for Azerbaijan that led to this situation. It has become obvious for Azerbaijan that the authorities of Armenia do not intend to enter into this process, which gave a green light to these processes. Armenia should have been the first acting player here."