Today, at a meeting of the Legal Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the deputy of the Armenian Parliament Vladimir Vardanyan made unreasonable accusations against Azerbaijan, saying that the protest of the Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations specializing in the environmental sphere on the road of Shusha-Hankendi against illegal operation of the deposits minerals in the territories temporarily controlled by Russian peacekeepers were allegedly aimed at closing the Lachin corridor, to interrupt the connection of the Armenians to Hangkendi with Armenia and bring Armenians from these territories. Vardanyan went on, and, without bringing any arguments, tried to blame Azerbaijan of creating a threat of “genocide” and draw parallels with processes in Ukraine.
Azerbaijan, a member of the delegation of Azerbaijan at his meeting, Kamal Dzhafarov, in his speech, called a hypocrisy an attempt by a representative of Armenia, which is a member of the CSTO, EAEU and the Customs Union of the EAEU, conduct parallels with Ukraine.
Kamal Dzhafarov noted that the relevant structures of Azerbaijan notified the Russian peacekeepers temporarily operating in this territory of the inspection at the site of Gyzylbulag gold deposits and the Demirley copper-ground deposits, the termination of illegal exploitation, and monitoring environmental damage in various areas. “Later on the day of monitoring, the Russian criminal-oligarch Ruben Vardanyan staged a provocation with a group of Armenians and prevented the monitoring. Russian peacekeepers could not or did not want to prevent this provocation. And now Azerbaijan citizens, representatives of the NGOs, taking advantage of the freedom of assemblies, summon them to meet the commander of the Russian peacekeepers Andrei Volkova. Until Volkov comes to the meeting, the corridor will remain closed. Therefore, the reason why the corridor remains closed is Volkov himself, ”he said.
Another member of the Azerbaijani delegation, Erkin Gadirley in his speech, noted that the Lachinsky corridor is not the only road, there is a new, wider and high -speed highway. He emphasized that the Azerbaijani side built this road, but the Armenians refuse to use it. It was noted that the mentioned territory is controlled by Russian peacekeepers, and no matter what happened at present, the responsibility lies with Russian peacekeepers. Gadirley also said that Russian peacekeepers passed various people to the Azerbaijani territories without Baku’s consent, including French presidential candidate. He noted that the Armenian strategy should consist in reconciling with Azerbaijan and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Armenia, and Russian peacekeepers from Karabakh, because peacekeepers do not create conditions for the return of Azerbaijanis, forced to make a connection between the two communities. Given all this, Gadirli emphasized that the claims of the Armenian deputy to Azerbaijan are completely unfounded.