CSTO Secretary General: One cannot overemphasize role of Russian  peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh

ArmInfo.The CSTO considers the mission carried out by Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh to be very important for the entire region. CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas stated this on December 19 during a Moscow -Astana  -Bishkek - Yerevan Minsk video bridge in response to a question about  whether the Organization is taking any attention against the  background of reports of aggressive actions against Russian  peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh (by Azerbaijanis who blocked the  Stepankert-Goris road - ed. note).

At the same time, the CSTO Secretary General believes that this issue  should be looked at more broadly.

"We believe that the mission carried out by the Russian peacekeepers  in Nagorno-Karabakh is very important for the entire Caucasus region.  One cannot overemphasize it. The peacekeepers are actually solving a  very important task there," Zas said, adding that they noted for  themselves the difficult conditions in which the peacekeepers have to  solve these tasks and the aggravation that is now taking place there,  including the blocking of the Lachin corridor. 

"In our opinion, the possibility of free movement of people and  humanitarian goods is very important in order not to burden the lives  of ordinary citizens living there or even more so not to allow a  humanitarian disaster",  he said, expressing his conviction that all  parties should be interested in the activities of peacekeepers and  help them in every possible way.

On December 12 at 10:30 am, a group of Azerbaijanis in civilian  clothes again blocked the Stepanakert- Goris highway "for  environmental reasons." Armenian telegram channels have already  identified employees of the special services of Azerbaijan among the  so-called ecologists. The Azerbaijanis are behaving loosely, trying  to provoke Russian peacekeepers, and have set up a tent on the only  road linking Artsakh with Armenia. The road remains closed to this  day.  The so-called Azerbaijani environmentalists, who were lit up in  the photo with a demonstration of the symbol of Turkish "Gray Wolves"  ultranationalists, said that they would remain on the road until head  of the peacekeeping contingent, Andrei Volkov, arrived. In addition,  from the evening of December 13, Azerbaijan also shut off the valve  of the gas pipeline through which gas is supplied to the population  of Nagorno-Karabakh. The gas supply was restored three days later.   It is noteworthy that the Azerbaijanis who blocked the  Stepanakert-Goris highway changed their demands, and now they demand  the control and activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and  the State Security Service of Azerbaijan throughout the territory of  the Republic of Artsakh. We add that the first provocations by the  so-called environmentalists began on December 3 with the blocking of  the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor connecting Artsakh with Armenia.  Over  the past week, the enemy side periodically undertook various kinds of  provocations both against the Russian peacekeepers in the NKR and  against the civilian population. And already on December 10, a group  of Azerbaijanis tried to get into two mines operating in the NKR,  however, the Karabakh people did not allow the enemies to get into  the mines.