YEREVAN. April 27 (Interfax) - Russia alone is entitled to exercise control over the Lachin corridor, which connects Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
"Russia's peacekeeping forces must control the Lachin corridor and ensure its normal operation. No one except Russia should exercise control in the Lachin corridor. Azerbaijan should not impede unhindered movement via the corridor. This is stipulated in the trilateral statement [on Karabakh] dated November 9, 2020 [signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan]," Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.
"Azerbaijan continues [to take] actions to escalate the situation in the region, having illegally set up a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor," he said.
"These actions are heightening tensions in the region and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. The goal of these actions is to carry out ethnic cleansing and genocide of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. The installation of the checkpoint gravely violates Point 6 of the trilateral statement," Pashinyan said.