Azerbaijanis made residents of blockaded villages meet their demands on their way back: Artsakh state minister makes a statement
“Since April 23, 2023, Azerbaijan has set up an illegal checkpoint on the Artsakh-Armenia border (in the Lachin corridor). The villages of the Shushi province of the Republic of Artsakh have been in total blockade as a result, cut off both from Stepanakert and the Republic of Armenia. Since April 23, the humanitarian crisis in Mets Shen, Hin Shen, Yeghtsahogh and Lisagor villages of the Shushi province has been deepening day by day. Attempts were made to provide those villages with food and medical supplies through the ICRC (Red Cross) Artsakh office, which, however, proved futile.
In the first days of the blockade, three minor children, stranded in Goris, reunited with their parents with the help of the Russian peacekeepers. As for the rest, Azerbaijan forbade them to return home. In order to address the critical humanitarian issues facing the residents of the villages in total blockade, a group of residents turned to the Russian peacekeepers stationed there. The latter had allowed them passage without inspection, in private vehicles, through the checkpoint set up near the Hakari bridge, assuring them that there would be no interference from the Azerbaijani side. With the help of the Russian peacekeepers, our citizens crossed the road without any trouble. However, on the way back home with their compatriots who had been forced to remain in Goris because of the checkpoint, they came across Azerbaijanis there. The latter, forcing our citizens into a desperate situation, forced them to comply with their demands and fimed the entire process in order to put on yet another show.
This is yet another piece of evidence that the illegal Azerbaijani checkpoint restricts the smooth transportation of the citizens of Artsakh, goods and the steady traffic flow, thus violating the provisions of the Tripartite Statement of November 9, 2020, and the decision of the UN International Court of Justice. The people of the Republic of Artsakh are looking for the restoration of the Lachin corridor status, as stipulated in the Tripartite Statement, that is a 5-kilometer-wide corridor, exclusively under the control of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.”
According to another Azerbaijani information manipulation, Artsakh citizens are allowed freedom of movement through the checkpoint set up on the Artsakh-Armenia border (in the Lachin Corridor).
Artsakh InfoCenter explained the situation, noting that the people crossing the Azerbaijani checkpoint were residents of the totally blockaded four villages of the province of Shushi. They had been stranded in Goris on account of the checkpoint and were returning home with the help of the Russian peacekeepers. To their own surprise, they were stopped by Azerbaijani servicemen, who filmed the process and publicized the videos.
