YEREVAN. Dec 14 (Interfax) - The Armenian parliament has called on Russia to ensure the flow of traffic in the Lachin corridor, which connects the territory of the republic to Nagorno-Karabakh.
"We are calling on Russia to take relevant actions to ensure full-fledged implementation in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers as provided for by the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020," the parliament said in a statement adopted at an extraordinary session.
The deputies also called on the international community to condemn Azerbaijan's actions and take measures to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Karabakh. "It is extremely important to use the international mechanisms to ensure the rights and security of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians. We are calling on the UN Security Council, the co-chair countries and the countries of the OSCE Minsk Group to send a fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh to monitor the situation," the statement said.
The parliament session was attended only by the ruling Civil Contract faction. The opposition left the hall, disagreeing with the wording of the text of the statement. The ruling faction declined the text proposed by the opposition, saying it is against the Armenian government's foreign policy. The opposition said a rally will be organized in front of the government building on Wednesday evening.
Earlier on Wednesday, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic said it had a shortage of energy resources as a result of the blocking of the road connecting Karabakh to Armenia and the cessation of gas supply by the Azerbaijani side. "The Republic of Artsakh [Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh] has a shortage of gasoline, diesel fuel, liquid and liquefied gas. The government and economic entities have agreed to introduce economy measures," the unified information center of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic said.
According to Azerbaijani media reports, up to 1,000 protesters are blocking the road. The protesters are chanting slogans in defense of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and against the illegal use of natural resources in the Karabakh economic region. The protesters also said they will continue the protest until Maj. Gen. Andrei Volkov, commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces temporarily stationed in some parts of the Karabakh economic region, comes to speak with them.