Under the conditions of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh due to the closure of the Lachin corridor, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched artillery and drone aviation strikes on June 27, in the direction of Martuni and Martakert positions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army, as a result of which four Defense Army soldiers were killed. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government.

"Expressing my condolences to the relatives and friends of the fallen, I must emphasize that this military provocation was being prepared for a long time, with the information attacks of Azerbaijan that as if the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army is violating the ceasefire regime in various parts of the line of contact," Pashinyan said.

"The Azerbaijani media publications’ being fictitious has been consistently demonstrated by the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, under the conditions of which it becomes obvious that Azerbaijan is pursuing a consistent policy of escalating the situation and de-Armenianizing Nagorno-Karabakh," the Armenian PM noted.

"Azerbaijan's [aforesaid] practices are more and more visibly perceived as such by the international community as well, the latest proof of which is Resolution 22/56 adopted by the PACE [(Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe)] last week," he said.

Pashinyan added that in paragraph 15 of the aforesaid resolution, the PACE states that it is extremely concerned about the hostile and threatening rhetoric used against Armenians at the highest levels of Azerbaijan's leadership, and calls on Azerbaijan to reject such rhetoric and take steps against both hate speech, including public and used by high-ranking officials, as well as to fight against hate and crimes.

According to him, in point 8 of the same resolution, PACE notes that the current unstable situation may lead to the fact that the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh will have to leave their homes and communities. In this context, PACE urgently calls to resolve the rights and security issues of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh through neutral international engagement in any peace implementation mechanism between Baku and Stepanakert.

"The Assembly emphasized that the blocking of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan is a violation of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, noted the fact of the blocking of electricity and natural gas supplies being supplied to Nagorno-Karabakh, called on Azerbaijan to immediately restore these supplies and to comply with the order of the International Court of Justice to unblock the Lachin corridor," the Armenian premier announced.

Also, Pashinyan considered it important to record that the aforementioned PACE resolution assesses the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as a humanitarian and human rights crisis.

"The need to organize fact-finding as quickly as possible in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor was emphasized. The resolution adopted in the PACE is a very important document in terms of increasing international attention to the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the foreign ministry of Armenia will be consistent in terms of keeping the provisions of the resolution on the agenda of the [PACE] ministerial committee; that is, the PACE executive body," Nikol Pashinyan stated.