Under the conditions of the Lachin corridor being closed by Azerbaijan for three months, there is a new aggravation of the situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government.

Pashinyan added as follows: "Last Sunday, an armed unit of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces ambushed and attacked the [Artsakh] policemen traveling from [capital] Stepanakert to the villages of Hin Shen and Mets Shen of Nagorno-Karabakh in a UAZ-model passenger car for service purposes. Three of the policemen were killed, one was injured. Expressing my condolences to the relatives and fellow officers of the fallen police officers, I want to emphasize that all three of them were born in Nagorno-Karabakh.

This circumstance gains special importance against the backdrop of a statement made by the president of Azerbaijan at the Munich Security Conference on February 18, 2023. He had admitted that there is an international agreement, according to which they should discuss the matter of their rights and safety with the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. The president of Azerbaijan, however, had emphasized that they are going to hold these discussions with the people born and lived in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On March 1, the first meeting of the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan took place at the headquarters of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh. And four days after that meeting, Azerbaijan launched the abovementioned provocation, which is hard to describe as anything other than an act of terrorism.

Three persons who were born in Nagorno-Karabakh, had families—with 3, 2, and 1 children—fell victim to that terrorism."