YEREVAN. March 16 (Interfax) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has tasked the Armenian Foreign Ministry with activating international mechanisms at the United Nations in order to prevent Armenian genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh, hoping that the role of protecting the Karabakh population will be exercised by Russia's peacekeepers to the fullest.
"The military-political administration of Azerbaijan is preparing for ethnic cleansing and genocide of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. I believe it is important and urgent that Armenia undertake efforts towards using international mechanisms to prevent genocide. This is a matter of mechanisms within the UN framework. I have given relevant instructions to the Foreign Ministry," Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.
Armenia also keeps working on the deployment of an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor [connecting Karabakh to Armenia].
Pashinyan said that the mission is important for refuting "the unfounded allegations of Azerbaijan that Armenia has an army in Nagorno-Karabakh and transits military cargo."
"Such allegations are unfounded. This is how Azerbaijan has been trying to create a proper background for a new regional military escalation. This makes the deployment of an international mission necessary," he said.
The Russian peacekeepers are one of the mechanisms preventing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, they are bound to play this role or else Moscow should contact the UN Security Council in order to engage additional international mechanisms, Pashinyan said.
"There is the Defense Army in Nagorno-Karabakh and, as long as the people of Nagorno-Karabakh is at risk of ethnic cleansing and genocide, the existence of this army will be justified. Still, the Defense Army is not the only mechanism preventing genocide of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Russian peacekeeping contingent is also a mechanism of this kind," he said.
Russia's Federation Council decided on November 18, 2020, to deploy a military contingent to Nagorno-Karabakh at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The Russian president said in his address to the Federation Council that 'for the purpose of fulfillment of the agreement with the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides on ceasing gunfire and hostilities and prevention of massive civilian casualties in Nagorno-Karabakh and substantial damage to the civilian infrastructure, I have decided to instantly deploy a contingent of the Russian Armed Forces to Nagorno-Karabakh'. Russia thus formally declared the risk of mass extermination of the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and undertook the role of guarantor of security of the people and civilian infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh," Pashinyan said.
He said he was hoping that Russia "would fulfill this role to the utmost extent."
"Still, if our friend and ally Russia fails to play this role for some objective reasons, it should appeal to the UN Security Council, report a threat of mass extermination of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh and civilian infrastructure, and, in order to prevent that, declare the need for engaging additional international mechanisms in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor," he said.
Pashinyan said he "has no prejudice against the activity of peacekeepers, however, the events of the past two years, including Azerbaijan's blocking of the Lachin corridor and the killing of three police officers in the peacekeepers' zone of responsibility, cause concern."
"I also cannot help but mention a special role of the peacekeepers in preventing the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, created by its blocking by Azerbaijan, from evolving into a humanitarian catastrophe. I would like to thank them for their efforts," Pashinyan said.