A regular session of the RA government was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Before discussing the session's agenda, the Prime Minister made a speech in which he referred to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh due to the closure of the Lachin Corridor and the work of the next phase of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan.

In his speech, Nikol Pashinyan noted.

"Dear participants of the government session,
Dear people,

Yesterday, on the 66th day of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijan restored the natural gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh. But two hours later, the gas pipeline was closed again.

The last time Azerbaijan closed the pipeline supplying natural gas to Nagorno-Karabakh was on February 7; it opened on January 29. From January 9, 2023, the electricity supply to Nagorno Karabakh has been blocked.

As a result of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, a humanitarian crisis began in Nagorno-Karabakh; as a result of the energy blockade, the humanitarian situation has worsened, and an environmental problem is unfolding in parallel because the population of Nagorno-Karabakh has to use wood for heating their apartments and other household needs, for which forests are cut down. This is, in fact, incontrovertible proof that the environmental motives behind the blockade of the Lachin Corridor are fictitious, and Azerbaijan's actions have the purpose of completing the policy of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

If until now, the international community was skeptical about this claim of ours, now, with time, this is becoming more and more obvious. It is no coincidence that the Lemkin International Institute for the Prevention of Genocide issued a statement three times in the last three months regarding the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the rhetoric of the Azerbaijani leadership. In the latest such report, published on January 18, 2023, the Lemkin Institute asks world leaders to take the threat of the Armenian genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh seriously.

This alarm worldwide must grow louder daily, and efforts in this direction must continue.

Dear participants of the government session,
Dear people,

Yesterday, the Republic of Armenia completed the work on the next phase of the draft peace and relations establishment agreement with Azerbaijan, and our proposals have been forwarded to the Azerbaijani side. In other words, by recommendations, we mean a complete draft document with our suggestions. We also delivered the paper to the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group.

We are working on the project according to the following logic. Please send us a document that we are ready to sign any time. This document should be acceptable to Azerbaijan as well. We plan to develop specific progress observed as a result of three rounds of negotiations. Our vision is as follows. The document should contain a logic of arrangements, such as an adequate checks and balances system that would exclude any disruption of lasting and stable peace. The document's signing does not turn into a war based on an already peaceful treaty. This sounds absurd, but it can also be such a scenario; on the contrary, it means lasting peace.

Dear Colleagues,

Once again, I express the commitment of our government and myself to sign such a peace agreement, which will guarantee lasting and stable peace. As I have said, I am ready to take on and bear such responsibility. Thank you."