Yesterday, on the 66th day of the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor, Azerbaijan restored the supply of natural gas to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), but closed the gas pipeline again two hours later, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government.

He recalled that the last time Azerbaijan closed the pipeline supplying natural gas from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh was on February 7, and before that—on January 29.

"The supply of electricity to Nagorno-Karabakh is blocked since January 9, 2023. As a result of the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor, a humanitarian crisis began in Nagorno-Karabakh. As a result of the energy blockade, the humanitarian crisis has worsened and an environmental crisis is unfolding at the same time because the population of Nagorno-Karabakh has to use wood for heating their apartments and other household needs, for which forests are cut down. In fact, this is an indisputable proof that the environmental motives behind the blockade of the Lachin corridor are fictitious, and Azerbaijan's actions have one goal: to complete the policy of subjecting the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing," said Pashinyan.

He added that if until now the international community was skeptical about this assertion of the Armenian side, now, with time, this is becoming more and more obvious for the international community.

"The Lemkin Institute [for Genocide Prevention] asks world leaders to take seriously the threat of Armenian genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh. This alarm shall grow louder every day around the world. Making of efforts in this direction should be continuous," the Armenian PM added, in particular.