It is no secret that Armenia-Russia relations have a strategic level, and Russia is the guarantor of Armenia's security. Still, after the attack of Azerbaijan on Armenia on September 13, 2022, problems with Russia arose. RA President Vahagn Khachaturyan announced this after meeting with Estonian President Alar Karis on January 16.

"Before that, if Azerbaijan carried out certain military operations in Karabakh, we could not appeal to any country, neither to Russia, nor to CSTO members, because it was not on the territory of Armenia, but on September 13, the attack was on the part of Armenia, three in the regions and different places there was an advance of up to 5-7 km by Azerbaijan. This was the case that both the CSTO member states and Russia should also provide us with military assistance.

Apart from that, we also expected political statements. Both have just been. Of course, for the sake of justice, it should be noted that Russia also took part in the negotiations to end the war, in which the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the French President Emmanuel Macron, and the head of the European Union Parliament, Charles Michel, also took an active part. I take this opportunity to thank all parties for their intervention; small or big help is optional; the important thing is that the war stopped the next day.

Armenia and Estonia are small countries; we cannot ensure our security by our means; we need the support of international organizations or individual governments. In this case, Estonia is a member of the European Union and NATO, which are guarantors of political and military security, and which works. Unfortunately, we also had expectations that they would work, but those expectations still needed to be fully met. We will continue our negotiations and discussions, and finally, we will announce our position.

Aggressive sentiments of our neighbor Azerbaijan have increased; evidence of this is the views expressed by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, during a press conference a few days ago. We must be sure that we will not be alone in case of another attack," said the RA President.

According to Khachaturyan, the Russian pacifists had to ensure the direct connection between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, which is 90 km.

"There are two people responsible here: the Russian peacekeepers, who should ensure security, and Azerbaijan, who should not create obstacles. Armenia has nothing to do there. This is a significant circumstance. In this case, Azerbaijan has not fulfilled its obligations, it has created an artificial barrier, and since December 12 until now, the Lachin Corridor has been closed.

300-400 vehicles passed through that road daily, providing everything vitally necessary for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, and after the blockade, only 400 cars passed through that corridor for humanitarian purposes. Today, essential food products are given with coupons—Nothing to sell in direct stores. The state provides from its reserves. Many schools and kindergartens are closed, twenty days ago the electricity was cut off. Electricity is supplied from Armenia. There was an accident; they didn't let it recover. There are fan outages.

Before this incident, the Russian peacekeepers fulfilled their duties. There have been several cases over two years that have been resolved quickly. Last year, the Azerbaijanis cut off the gas, but the supply was quickly restored through the mediation of peacekeepers. Now I understand that the Russian side does not want to use force, and they are trying to solve the issue through negotiations, but now, we have demanded from them. We also have requests towards Azerbaijan, but Azerbaijan, as usual, needs to respond more. Still, we hope the Russian side will react and apply measures to secure that corridor.

The fact is that our expectations are not coming true, and the corridor remains closed. Shortly, in 2 days, there will be a particular discussion in the European Parliament; let's wait for the results," said the RA President.