The government “reveals” “shocking” videos about the property of the former, and the opposition of the National Assembly is busy with the issues of Seda Safaryan and the nomination of Edgar Ghazaryan for the post of Human Rights Defender
100 day of the siege of Artsakh has passed. The authorities of Azerbaijan digested the latest sabotage attack and turned to the next step. According to the information disseminated by the RA Ministry of Defense, on March 22, RA Armed Forces soldier M. G., who got lost in the area while transporting food to the military base on March 21, was found as a result of search and rescue operations. Where did the serviceman appear, and after what steps did he return to the front line, to our control area? The official details have yet to be discovered.
Different Telegram channels, however, referring to their sources after the information about the loss of the serviceman, reported that the Azerbaijanis opened fire at the Russian service members who went to the scene where two Russian servicemen were injured. There were reports that the Azerbaijanis were aware that the Russian soldiers were approaching the scene, but this did not stop them from firing at the Russian soldiers. The night of March 21 and 22 passed without a response from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
On March 22, the Syunik Governor’s Office reported that the previous evening, two Russian servicemen had applied to the Goris Medical Center under the Syunik Governor’s Office with “slight head injuries (non-gunshot).” They announced that “they received first aid on the spot and were immediately discharged from the hospital.”
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The Azerbaijani Internet is flooded with official Baku propaganda accusing Armenia of inciting new provocations. All this continued after the phone call to Aliyev by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Official Baku’s propaganda theses flooded the Internet with the “disease” of setting up a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor. Azerbaijani telegram channels and Azerbaijani ambassadors are spreading fake videos, accusing the Armenian side of carrying out “military transports” to Artsakh. It is clear to everyone that these days Azerbaijan is carrying out a terrible information attack against Armenia and Artsakh. The goals, of course, can be different: exerting pressure in the negotiation process to extract desired concessions from official Yerevan to new military operations and a new stage of border tension. However, the question is interesting, what is the Armenian political field doing in this situation?
The government is “revealing” “shocking” videos about the former’s property, and the parliamentary opposition is busy with the case of Constitutional Court Judge Seda Safaryan and the nomination of Edgar Ghazaryan for the position of the HRD. For the sake of justice, we should mention that, of course, they count almost every day which day has passed that Artsakh continues to be blockaded.
Sometimes they judge regional-geopolitical topics, remembering the speeches and statements with Russian propaganda theses. “The agreement regarding the corridor connecting Artsakh to Armenia is in the November 9 document. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on this with Russia. Another thing is whether Russia implements it badly or well. It should be the result of negotiations. I think there is no need for international observers regarding the Lachin Corridor issue,” Seyran Ohanyan, deputy of the “Armenia” faction, former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, said in a recent briefing with journalists in the National Assembly, referring to the statement of the RA Foreign Ministry that the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh International sending a fact-finding team is a necessity. Seyran Ohanyan explained his approach: “We don’t need people who will come with pens and binoculars and observe. The Russian peacekeeping forces carry it out. On the other hand, it is necessary to raise the issue of Artsakh in the international arena, the conflict is not resolved, and the option of a solution should return to the domain of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Days after this announcement, the parliamentary opposition went to Tsaghkadzor for discussions with the Russian side. The 36th session of the interparliamentary commission on cooperation between the RA National Assembly and the RF Federal Assembly was held on March 17 in Tsaghkadzor. After the end of the session, members of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee, led by Hakob Arshakyan, Deputy Chairman of the RA NA, Co-Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee on Armenian-Russian cooperation, and Yury Vorobyov, Deputy Chairman of the RF Federation Council, Co-Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee, took part in the opening of the Russian Center at Tsaghkadzor Children’s Art School. Vorobyov noted that Armenia is Russia’s traditional strategic partner, and cooperation between Armenia and Russia helps to strengthen stability and security in the South Caucasus. He also emphasized the mission of the Russian peacekeepers to ensure peace in the region and unblock the Lachin Corridor.
Seyran Ohanyan, the head of the NA faction “Armenia” and a member of the Inter-Parliamentary committee, spoke about the humanitarian crisis created in Artsakh as a result of the blocking of the Lachin Corridor, emphasized “the role of the Russian peacekeeping mission in maintaining peace in the region.” In a tense security situation, there was a proposal to combine the parties’ forces toward military-technical cooperation.
Are Armenian parliamentarians interested in the recent incomprehensible statements of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, who visited Baku? For example, what did Lavrov mean when recently in Baku, he did not rule out the introduction of additional means of technical inspection on the road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, stating the following? “Creation of any checkpoints is not planned there, but there is a possibility to dispel existing doubts, whether the corridor is being used as it should be, by technical means.”
Or, his other comments that the November 9 document “needs to ensure free movement exclusively for civilian humanitarian cargo and civilians.” This requirement does not exist in the tripartite statement of November 9. This position disarms Artsakh; therefore, Russia demands to deprive Artsakh even of its self-defense. And by the way, official Moscow recently gave up its role as guarantor of the security of Artsakh Armenians.
The other day, at a joint press conference with Mirzoyan, Lavrov announced that the issue of the safety of Karabakh residents should be resolved through negotiations between Karabakh and Azerbaijan. In their contacts with the Russian side, did the Armenian parliamentarians raise the question of why Moscow and Baku are fighting tirelessly against the presence of the EU mission in the sovereign territory of Armenia? And by the way, an official Yerevan statement made by RA Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan was also surprising. Before Mirzoyan’s upcoming visit to Moscow, the latter expressed his opinion that discussing Russia’s dissatisfaction with the EU observation mission in the Mirzoyan-Lavrov talks is possible. Why should this issue be discussed in the Armenian-Russian negotiation agenda?
Has Moscow discussed with Yerevan, for example, the issue of establishing a Russian-Turkish monitoring center?
Emma GABRIELYAN
