"The international pressure and attention on the issue of the closure of the Lachin Corridor is increasing, and we must continue to increase the pressure," said Ruben Rubinyan, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament ("Civil Contract"). He also responded to the criticism directed at the government for not going to negotiate with Azerbaijan on this issue.

Question - The first argument - you don't go, you don't negotiate directly with those blocking the corridor.

Ruben Rubinyan- I do not agree with that argument, because in fact, the statement of November 9 is at least very clear in this regard, it says the following - the Lachin Corridor remains under the control of Russian peacekeeping troops, and attention, if the Nagorno-Karabakh itself In Karabakh, Russian peacekeeping troops are engaged in peacekeeping in the classical sense of the word, that is, they stand between two conflicting parties - Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, and in the Lachin Corridor, which is not only a road, but also an area 5 km wide, exercises direct control over that area, and there, according to the statement of November 9, neither Nagorno-Karabakh nor RA have any jurisdiction or control function in the Lachin Corridor.

Second, Azerbaijan also does not have any authority in the Lachin Corridor, but it has one obligation - to guarantee the safe movement of people, vehicles, and cargo through the Lachin Corridor from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh and from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, that is, in other words, not to do any actions that will endanger that free movement. Naturally, Azerbaijan violated this clause, and now the question arises - if what should happen is written in black and white, that is, the agreement already exists and it is written, what should we negotiate about? The announcement of November 9 has already been violated, and that violation must be restored.

Question - That agreement is violated, and Armenia's signature is also placed under that agreement. It is not that it extends to one point and not to another.

Ruben Rubinyan - Yes, but the negotiation presupposes that the parties talk about the mutual steps that can be taken to achieve this or that situation. We have a situation where the November 9 announcement has already been negotiated, and the status of the Lachine Corridor and the operating parameters are fixed and confirmed by the November 9 announcement, so for example, according to those critics, if we start renegotiating the actual November 9 announcement, because that means negotiating this situation, where is the guarantee that the newly renegotiated will not be violated after two days? In other words, we are also dealing with the contracting ability of Azerbaijan here.

Question - In other words, you mean that Yerevan will be subject to blackmail after negotiating once, and it can be repeated over and over again.

Ruben Rubinyan - I'm not going into the details now, I'm saying that what had to be negotiated has already been negotiated, and as a result, the statement of November 9 was adopted, that is, isn't it a fixed fact that according to the statement of November 9, the Lachin corridor should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers and it should be open. Now it is not like that.

Question - Azerbaijan says that it was not written there that the Armenian side should "transport weapons and mines, let's take measures to prevent this".

Ruben Rubinyan - First, the Republic of Armenia has no troops in Nagorno Karabakh and has not transported weapons and mines, secondly, it is not even written in the statement of November 9 that such a thing cannot happen, that is, even if the Republic of Armenia did it, it would still be referred to. It was not in the statement of November 9, and if we're talking about the blockade, what if weapons were transported through the gas pipeline, they damaged the gas pipeline and they don't allow gas in Karabakh?

The full interview on azatutyun.am