Pashinyan toughens rhetoric against Azerbaijan after conversation with Putin

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today made accusations against Azerbaijan at a government meeting.

"After the Azerbaijani provocation at the Akari bridge, Nagorno-Karabakh has been deprived of all kinds of supplies since 15 June. Even the Russian peacekeepers stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh are unable to deliver supplies because the Lachin corridor is completely blocked," Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan has also denied the presence of Armenian armed forces units in Karabakh, despite the fact that the Armenian side had requested a few days ago that the bodies of two soldiers killed in the fighting in Karabakh be evacuated to Armenia.

The Armenian Prime Minister began accusing Azerbaijan of "ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh".

Pashinyan also lamented Azerbaijan's "widespread propaganda against France".

In doing so, Pashinyan demonstrated Armenia's reluctance to open the "Zangezur corridor".

"Armenia has never made corridor commitments anywhere, either in writing or verbally, and will never accept such comments. As for unblocking regional communications under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of countries, Armenia has repeatedly reiterated that it is ready for this," Pashinyan said, despite the fact that paragraph 9 of the Trilateral Statement of 10 November 2020 states that "Armenia guarantees security of transport communication between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic in order to organize unhindered movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions."

Moreover, he accused Azerbaijan of unwillingness "to provide the road to Armenia, proceeding with its 30-year policy of blockade of Armenia". In doing so, the Armenian PM seems to have forgotten that for the past 30 years Armenia has occupied Azerbaijani territories and continues to block the roads to Nakhchivan.

As for his upcoming meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels on 21 July, Pashinyan said that "the text of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not yet ready for signing". "Hopefully, during the upcoming meeting, the positive things that have been recorded in Washington will become substantive," Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan's escalating rhetoric suggests that the Armenian side has decided to disavow previous agreements with Azerbaijan, apparently to derail the negotiation process, if not to derail it completely, then at least to discard it.

It is noteworthy that Pashinian's statements followed his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, which, according to Armenian media, took place "at the request" of Karabakh separatist leader Araik Harutyunyan.

Official Baku says the precondition for signing a peace agreement is the unconditional and complete withdrawal of Armenian armed forces and unofficial Armenian armed formations from internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory.