Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred to the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, noting that none of its points are valid today. Speaking about point 9 of the statement, he said that it is not about the connection between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan but about the need to unblock regional economic ties and, as a result, ensure communication from country to country.
“The topic being settled is about the unblocking of regional economic ties. Azerbaijan has not blocked any of our roads today,” he said, adding that Armenia, on the contrary, is ready for that process, and there is also a draft government decision in circulation. “Azerbaijan is not taking advantage of this opportunity. Moreover, they say that if Armenia does not give us these roads, we will build them with Iran. We also say that Iran is ready to provide the same way we are. Why? Because in point 9 of the tripartite declaration, there is no hint, note, or wording that Armenia’s sovereignty and jurisdiction are limited in any way.”
According to him, the next issue being manipulated is an attempt to create the impression that, according to point 9 of the statement of November 9, the third party should provide security on the territory of Armenia. “There is no such thing at all in point 9 of the statement of November 9. On the contrary, it is written that RA guarantees security. The guarantor is RA.” According to him, there is no wording in the tripartite declaration that any part of the territory of the Republic of Armenia should be outside the control of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, and any third party, notably the Russian Federation, should control it. “It is written that the bodies of the border guard service of the FSB of Russia carry out control over transport communication. The interpretation of this point must be expressed in the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 10, 2020, where an assignment is written to the border guard troops of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation to carry out control over the provision of transport links by the Republic of Armenia. In other words, the entity that provides the transport connection is RA. And what does that point mean? It does not in any way mean that the Russian Federation can or should be on the ground because the way to carry out that control is that we had it in mind at the time: can the RA, as a party to the tripartite declaration, give regular reports that transport the communication is secured, that is, the agreement is fulfilled.”
