At the beginning of the government session, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred to the situation in the Lachin Corridor and noted:

"Dear participants of the government session,

Dear people,

In recent days, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh has become extremely acute. Azerbaijan first blocked the Lachin Corridor, then closed the pipeline supplying Nagorno Karabakh with natural gas. As a result of these provocative actions, the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh were deprived of the right to free movement; thousands of people, including children, were left on the roads in the cold winter conditions, faced with the difficulties of heating their apartments in the winter weather. Many families were involuntarily divided, finding themselves on different sides of the blockade. Citizens with serious health problems are deprived of medicines and health services, and food supplies and other essential goods have been disrupted. One hundred twenty thousand people were effectively held hostage in the siege. Gas-heated schools and kindergartens were forced to stop working, as a result of which around 22,000 children were deprived of their right to education.

The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be called anything other than a humanitarian crisis. Moreover, this crisis arose due to Azerbaijan's failure to fulfill its international obligations. As it has already been said many times, the closure of the Lachin Corridor is a direct and gross violation of the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020, by Azerbaijan on the simple grounds that according to paragraph 6, the Lachin Corridor is under the control of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of the movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo through the Lachine Corridor. This is a direct quote from the November 9 tripartite statement. And the information is a document under which the signature of the President of Azerbaijan is also placed.

As I have mentioned, Azerbaijan's violations of the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020, are of a chronic nature. And those violations are as follows: the first point of the statement is recorded the cessation of fire and all military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. Contrary to this protocol, illegal military operations have been undertaken by Azerbaijan since December 13, 2020, i.e., one month after the signing of the tripartite declaration, namely in the form of occupation of Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher villages of Nagorno Karabakh. On March 24, 2022, units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces invaded the zone of responsibility of the Russian Federation peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the area reaching the village of Karaglukh Bardzunk, and continue to remain there to this day. Similar military operations took place before and after that, and violations of the cease-fire regime by the armed forces of Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh continue to be periodic.

The occupation of the territories of the Republic of Armenia by Azerbaijan as a result of the provocations of May 11, 2021, November 14, 2021, and September 13, 2022, is also a gross violation of the first point of the tripartite declaration.

Daily violations of the ceasefire regime along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border are also a gross violation of the provisions of the first point of the trilateral declaration by Azerbaijan.

The actions mentioned above also violate the third point of the tripartite declaration, according to which a line of contact is being formed in Nagorno-Karabakh under the responsibility of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation.

Azerbaijan's continuous assertion that Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist is also a gross violation of the tripartite declaration, which I have had many occasions to speak about.

I have already mentioned the violations of paragraph 6 of the tripartite statement above about the activities of the Lachine Corridor.

Azerbaijan also grossly and continuously violates paragraph 7 of the declaration, according to which internally displaced persons and refugees return to the Nagorno-Karabakh territory and adjacent territories under the supervision of the staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Only now, the representatives of the UN have been able to enter Nagorno Karabakh due to the obstacles caused by Azerbaijan. Until now, the issues of forcibly displaced citizens from the Hadrut region of Nagorno-Karabakh have not been resolved.

I would like to pay attention to the wording of the article mentioned above about the tripartite declaration. I quote from the article. "Refugees return to the territory of Nagorno Karabakh." This formulation means that it is Nagorno-Karabakh and Nagorno-Karabakh has a territory, and saying that Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist and not accepting the territorial existence of such an entity, Azerbaijan, declares that the refugees have no place to return, which is not only a tripartite declaration but also is a gross violation of humanitarian law.

Azerbaijan also grossly violates point 8 of the tripartite declaration, which states that prisoners of war should be exchanged, hostages, and other detained persons. Until now, Azerbaijan has been holding and refusing to return at least 33 prisoners, hostages, and other detained persons to Armenia, which is a gross violation of the tripartite declaration and humanitarian law.

Azerbaijan also continuously and grossly violates point 9 of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, claiming that the Republic of Armenia should provide a corridor. I have said many times that the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, does not provide for the existence of any passage through the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Nor does any document signed by Armenia provide for such a thing. Naturally, all the claims that Armenia gave such a verbal promise to anyone are absurd and even ignorant.

As I said before, the Republic of Armenia is ready to implement the provisions of point 9 of the tripartite declaration, which, let me remind you, is about unblocking the economic and transport links of the region. The tripartite mandate does not foresee any restrictions on the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia in this process. Therefore, Armenia is ready at any time for the reopening of roads, the construction of new roads, and the operation as provided by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

Dear attendees,
Dear people
Our main collective work should be to make Azerbaijan's chronic violations of its commitments worthy of international recognition. Our diplomatic service, the foreign relations units of all departments, Soviet diplomacy, the ruling power, the opposition, non-governmental organizations, representatives of the diaspora, individuals and legal entities with foreign relations, and social media users must contribute their money to this cause to demonstrate that Azerbaijan's systematic violations of the 2020 tripartite declaration primarily aim to subject Nagorno Karabakh to genocide or patriotism.
Azerbaijan continuously implements the Nagorno-Karabakh policy without Armenians, and we must do everything to ensure that this policy receives proper international recognition.

I want to thank all those countries and international organizations that have already responded and evaluated Azerbaijan's policy of closing the Lachin Corridor and causing a humanitarian disaster in Nagorno-Karabakh. In this regard, the silence of several friendly countries is at least strange.

I fully support the statement adopted yesterday by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, in which it is stated that in the current situation, it is essential to launch or restart the international mechanisms for ensuring the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. The National Assembly also called on the UN Security Council, OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, and member states to send a fact-finding mission to Nagorno Karabakh to monitor the humanitarian situation.

I instruct our diplomatic service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to effectively deliver this message of the highest legislative body of the Republic of Armenia to the addressees.

I am also in constant contact with the President of Nagorno Karabakh to assess events' development and discuss possible solutions. That's all for now; thank you for your attention."