Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired the regular Cabinet meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister referred to the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh caused by Azerbaijan's illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor, the blocking of the transfer of humanitarian aid waiting in Kornidzor to Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as Azerbaijan's actions to abort the peace process.

The Prime Minister particularly said,

"Dear participants of the Cabinet meeting,
Dear people,

Under the conditions of the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, the 361 tons of humanitarian aid sent to Nagorno-Karabakh last week by the decision of the governmental working group of the Republic of Armenia on supporting the people of Nagorno-Karabakh continues to be stranded in the Kornidzor settlement of the Syunik Province of the Republic of Armenia, near the entrance to the Lachin Corridor, because Azerbaijan, grossly violating point 6 of the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, illegally blocks the entry of this humanitarian cargo into Nagorno Karabakh. Let me remind you that the Armenian government made a decision to send humanitarian cargo to Nagorno Karabakh after the International Committee of the Red Cross announced the impossibility of transporting humanitarian cargo to Nagorno Karabakh because Azerbaijan illegally obstructs these efforts as well.

Azerbaijan stubbornly continues to insist that one of the reasons for closing the Lachin Corridor on June 15 of this year, as it puts it, is the military provocation of the Armenian side. Let me remind you that on that day, Azerbaijan tried to place a flag on the begining of the Hakari bridge, in the territory of Armenia, and received legitimate counter-measures from the border guard troops of Armenia. The provocation is the above-mentioned action of Azerbaijan, especially in the conditions when the delimitation and demarcation works between the two countries are still in the initial stage. Azerbaijan's practice of placing flags in various places arbitrarily and often with the use of force resembles an act of aborting the delimitation process, and the peace process in general.

Recently, this was also seen in the interview given by the President of Azerbaijan to Euronews. Declaring that allegedly Azerbaijan has no territorial demands from Armenia, the President of Azerbaijan says that the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan are not determined. The borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan were decided in 1991 by the Almaty Declaration and it was reaffirmed in 2022, following the results of the quadrilateral meeting in Prague on October 6, where the Almaty Declaration was adopted as the basis for the delimitation and demarcation of the borders between the two countries. It seems that Azerbaijan's plan is as follows: to sign a peace treaty with clauses that leave room for questioning the border fixed by the Almaty Declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and later, already in the process of delimitation and demarcation, make territorial claims to the Republic of Armenia. If the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan are not determined, what territorial issues does Azerbaijan raise concerning different parts of the border? If such a question is raised, then the borders are determined, and Armenia's offer of a simultaneous withdrawal of troops from that border line remains valid. And the delimitation and demarcation of the borders does not indicate the absence of a border, but vice the versa, it is the process of re-establishing the already existing border, the administrative border between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and their reflection on the ground as a state border.

In that regard, I want to emphasize Armenia's commitment to the agreement of establishing peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia based on the mutual recognition of the territorial integrity of 86,600 and 29,800 square kilometers. We are waiting for the public reaffirmation of this agreement by Azerbaijan. I also want to emphasize that despite all the complications, we really have a chance to achieve long-term, stable and lasting peace, and I call on Azerbaijan to refrain from steps aimed at reducing that chance, such as the continuous torpedoing of the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue within the framework of the international mechanism, the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor and the kidnapping of Vagif Khachatryan from the Lachin corridor, a resident of Nagorno-Karabakh, who was being transferred to Yerevan by the Red Cross at the beginning of the week. Releasing Vagif Khachatryan, other prisoners, hostages, and detainees would be an impressive signal of commitment to the peace agenda. As a step of commitment to the peace agenda, I also call not to block the entry of the humanitarian cargo sent by Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin Corridor, especially given that the obstructing the passage of the cargo is a gross violation of the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020 and the February 22 and July 1 decisions of the International Court of Justice.

Although, on the other hand, following the statement made by the President of Azerbaijan in an interview with Euronews that the Lachin Corridor is not blocked, it is necessary to listen to the clarification of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh as for why they do not ensure the entry of the humanitarian aid of the Republic of Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, if Azerbaijan insists that it has not blocked the Lachin Corridor? I think the clarification of this issue is important and our relevant bodies should work towards getting clarifications on this issue.

Thank you."