The Azerbaijani news agency apa.az published the words of the Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Ayhan Hajizadeh regarding the blockade of Artsakh, under the title "MFA - The announcements about the blockade are false, Armenian ambulances pass unhindered along the Lachin road." Hajizade's statement and the headline of the Azerbaijani agency distort the reality. 

For already 8 days, Azerbaijanis, posing as "environmentalists", have closed the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia. 120 thousand people are under blockade in Artsakh, and their relatives who came to RA cannot return home. During these eight days, it has been repeatedly announced that there are humanitarian problems in Artsakh, people with serious health problems cannot receive appropriate medical care, and planned operations have been stopped.

And Hajizade stated that "despite the misinformation about the blockade, the vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Armenian ambulances pass unhindered along the Lachin road." With this statement, the spokesperson of the Azerbaijani MFA creates the impression that the passage of ICRC and Armenian military vehicles through the corridor is continuous.

However, only today, with the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Armenian emergency vehicle was able to pass through the Lachin corridor, transporting from Artsakh to Armenia a man born in 1960, with heart pathology, who needed an urgent operation.

Hajizade also stated that "such cases are repeated several times during the day", which is also disinformation.

In response to infocom.am's question, Zara Amatuni, the head of communication and prevention programs of the ICRC Armenian office, informed that during this period only one transfer of a patient was carried out with the mediation of the ICRC, and only one patient was transferred.

It should also be noted that the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Artsakh reported that the patient was transported to the Republic of Armenia in one ambulance of Artsakh, which was accompanied by the vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping troops and the ICRC. In the shared photo, which is posted with this material, only one ambulance can be clearly seen.

Moreover, the "Republican Medical Center" of the Artsakh Ministry of Health reported that 11 patients are in the intensive care unit, and 4 of them are in critical condition. And 10 children are in the reanimation department in the "Arevik medical unit" of Artsakh. Here too, the condition of one of the children is assessed as extremely serious. It was noted that the doctors are doing everything possible to stabilize the condition of the patients and that the doctors of Artsakh are providing the necessary medical care by consulting with RA specialists online. This already means that it was not possible to transfer the children to Armenia due to the blockade.

The Azerbaijani news agency wrote that conditions were created for the passage of Armenian military vehicles on the Lachin-Stepanakert road with the mediation of the ICRC. It is said in the article that today ICRC appealed to the Azerbaijani side regarding the transfer of the patient from Stepanakert to Yerevan, and the request was answered immediately, and the transfer was successfully completed. The fact that it is reported that an appeal was addressed to the Azerbaijani side and a response was received, and the road was opened, once again speaks about the fact that the people who blocked the Lachin corridor are directly instructed by the Azerbaijani authorities. In addition, we should note that our partner media revealed that the Azerbaijani "environmentalists" who closed the Lachin Corridor are connected with the Azerbaijani authorities (azatutyun.am, civilnet.am, fip.am, infocom.am).

Hayarpi Baghdasaryan