BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 17. The allegations about the so-called "humanitarian consequences" because of the peaceful protests on the Lachin-Khankendi road are false, Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the OSCE Rovshan Sadigbayli said at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in response to the speech of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Trend reports.
"There is no impediment whatsoever as to the supply of goods for the use of local residents or in terms of delivery of essential medical services. Nevertheless, the Government of Azerbaijan has taken seriously the possible negative impact of the situation, and on several occasions over the past weeks declared its readiness to address any humanitarian concern of our citizens of Armenian origin on the ground. Between 12 December 2022 - the date when the peaceful protests started and 15 January 2023, a total of 644 vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, the ICRC and local Armenian residents passed in both directions along the Lachin road without any impediment. From January 5 to January 15 January 2023, the daily average of vehicles passing through the road in both directions has been 30. Most of them were heavy duty vehicles carrying foodstuff and medical supplies to Khankendi," he said.
Meanwhile, the protest on the Lachin-Khankendi road against the illicit exploitation of Azerbaijan's mineral resources in the area of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment has been going on for over a month.
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.