News - November 9, 2020 statement does not imply that Russia FSB forces shall be on the ground, says Armenia's Pashinyan

None of the points of the statement of November 9, 2020 applies today. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during his press conference Tuesday. "An attempt is being made to create the impression that point 9 of that statement is about the connection between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan; no, it's not about that. That point is about the unblocking of regional economic ties. As a result of that unblocking, the need to ensure communication from country to country is also emphasized. Azerbaijan has not unblocked any of our roads today. On the contrary, we have said that we are ready to set up crossing points to ensure communication between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan. It is Azerbaijan that does not take advantage of that opportunity," Pashinyan said. He noted that Azerbaijan says that "if Armenia does not give us those roads, we will build a road through Iran." "We say, just as Iran is ready to provide a road, we are also ready to provide [it]. Why? Because in point 9 of the statement of November 9, there is no insinuation, note that Armenia's sovereignty and jurisdiction are being limited in any way; there is no such thing. Next, which again is manipulated and an attempt is made to create the impression that according to point 9, the third party must provide security in the territory of Armenia. There is no such thing in the tripartite statement. On the contrary, it is written that Armenia guarantees that security is ensured. Next, in point 9 of the statement of November 9, there is no wording that any part of the territory of Armenia shall be outside the control of the Armenian government and that any third party, in particular, the Russian Federation, shall oversee it. It is written that the monitoring of transport communication is provided by the Russian Federation. It is very important that the interpretation of this point is expressed in the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 10 or 11, 2020, where the [Russian] FSB [i.e. Federal Security Service] border guard troops are instructed to carry out the monitoring of the provision of transport links by Armenia; that is, the entity that provides the transport link is Armenia," the premier stated. He added that point 9 of the tripartite statement of 2020 does not in any way mean that Russia should be on the ground because one of the ways to exercise that monitoring is that, for example, Armenia may regularly report that communication is secured; that is, the agreement is fulfilled.