SHUSHA, Azerbaijan, December 13. We've arrived in Azerbaijani Shusha this morning, and more and more young activists demanding an end to environmental terrorism are joining the rally, Adviser to the Chairman of the Azerbaijani 'Davam' Youth Movement Niyaz Aliyev told Trend correspondent in Shusha on December 13.
Aliyev took part in protests of Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations (NGOs) against the inadmissibility of specialists to the territory of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment, to monitor the illicit exploitation of the country's mineral resources.
"Protesters have been waiting for Commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces General Andrei Volkov for the second day. We want him to come and answer why Azerbaijani specialists are not allowed to monitor the illegal exploitation of fields on the country's land. We're not going anywhere until General Volkov arrives and our expert team is allowed for monitoring," he said.
Representatives of Azerbaijani NGOs have been protesting near Shusha, close to the Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment area.
Previously, following the talks with the Russian peacekeepers' command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC were going to begin preliminary monitoring of the illicit mineral resource exploitation, as well as emerging environmental implications on Azerbaijani lands, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, on December 10, 2022.
The expert team was expected to inspect the environmental condition at the 'Gizilbulagh' gold deposit and the 'Damirli' copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to the environment, as well as to underground and surface water sources.
However, when arriving in the monitoring area, the expert group, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, faced provocations. The planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create necessary conditions and prevented for the entire process to carry on.