The long-time manipulative speech developed by Azerbaijan around the Lachin Corridor and the attempt to draw parallels between the Lachin Corridor and the unblocking of all regional transport and economic links provided for in point 9 of the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020 are another actions and statements contradicting to the trilateral declaration of November 9. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government—and referring to the statements made by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday.

“The President of Azerbaijan is trying to create grounds, invented grounds for closing the Lachin Corridor, surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and subjecting them to genocide and expatriation under the pretext of Armenia not fulfilling its obligations.

Meanwhile, the regulations of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 leave no room for such parallels and this is justified by several facts.

In points 3 and 6 of the trilateral declaration concerning Lachin Corridor, it is written "Lachin Corridor", this is a quotation, that is, Lachin Corridor is directly named as such.

In the 9th point of the same declaration, there is no mention of a corridor, neither any territory of the Republic of Armenia, nor a place name.

According to point 6 of the trilateral declaration, the Lachin Corridor is not only a road or a transport route, but also a 5-kilometer wide area.

In point 9, there is no mention of any such area and it’s only about communication, transport communication.

According to point 6 of the trilateral declaration, the Lachin Corridor is under the control of the Russian peacekeeping troops.

In point 9, it is stated that the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation carries out oversight over transport communication between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the autonomous republic of Nakhichevan. This issue is further clarified by point 3 of the decree No. 695 of the President of the Russian Federation of November 10, 2020 ‘On ensuring peace in Nagorno-Karabakh,’ which states, I quote: ‘To the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation: Carry out oversight over the transportation connections between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan provided by the Republic of Armenia for the unhindered two-way movement of citizens, goods, and vehicles.’

In other words, there is no and cannot be any question of control over our sovereign territory and alienation of any of our sovereign functions, we are talking about oversighting the implementation of agreements, and by saying agreement, we should understand the statement, because naturally, there can be no other agreement, and this is the only thing the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation can do.

According to point 6 of the trilateral declaration, the Lachin Corridor was created solely for the purpose of creating an uninterrupted and safe connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia, as a guarantee of security, as the only and irreplaceable way of life for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Point 9 of the same declaration is about unblocking the transport and economic links of the region, and it is only in that context that the transport communication between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan is mentioned, and this communication, accordingly, is part of the process of unblocking the transport and economic links of the region.

This is also made evident by the trilateral statement of January 11, 2021, which is the extended version of paragraph 9 of the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, a document explaining its meaning.

Accordingly, it is necessary to record that the accusations against Armenia of violating point 9 of the declaration of November 9, 2020 are completely groundless. By that point, Armenia has only one obligation, which is to ensure the transportation link between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan. By the way, no specific route is mentioned in the November 9 declaration or any other statement,” the Armenian premier stated.