Spokesperson of the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (RA MFA), Ani Badalyan, commented on the statements given Wednesday by the official representative of the Russian Federation (RF) MFA, Maria Zakharova, regarding the incident that happened near the Hakari bridge on June 15. Badalyan's commentary reads as follows:

In response to the comment of the RF MFA official representative, I consider it necessary to note the following:

  1. The June 15 incident did not take place in the Lachin corridor, as the official representative of the RF MFA states, but in the RA sovereign territory—on the Armenian side of the Hakari bridge.
  2. There is a clear contradiction in the interpretation of the Russian side. If, due to the lack of delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is not possible to say exactly where the border line passes, and this is the reason for the ongoing problems, as the official representative of the RF MFA claims, then the question arises: on what basis and principle is an Azerbaijani flag placed on June 15 on this particular part of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, on this side of the bridge?

By the way, let's record that this same argument is repeated verbatim on a regular basis by the Azerbaijani side when carrying out aggressive actions towards the borders of the Republic of Armenia and invading the RA sovereign territory.

  1. It is not clear why the RF peacekeepers took part in that operation of Azerbaijan, when both the purpose and even the location of the operation were clearly outside the scope of the peacekeepers' functions and zone of responsibility. We recall that the only relevant function of the Russian peacekeepers in that area was to keep the 5km-wide corridor of Lachin under control.
  2. By the way, after the June 15 incident, the Azerbaijani side has completely blocked the Lachin corridor, as a result of which even humanitarian supplies, including food and medicine, are not being transported to Nagorno-Karabakh [(NK)], even from the ICRC. Severe patients in need of medical care are not being transported from the NK to the RA medical facilities, [natural] gas and electricity supply [to Nagorno-Karabakh] continues to be disrupted.

In conclusion, we would like to call on the parties that signed the tripartite statements of November 9, 2020 and the other trilateral statements accepted by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan to instead of looking for excuses, to steadily fulfill their commitments.

Zakharova on Lachin corridor incident: Accusations against Russian peacekeepers are absolutely groundless