Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said he discussed with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna the situation around the Lachin-Khankendi road.

Speaking at a press conference in Baku on Thursday, FM Bayramov said he briefed his French counterpart on the illegal transportation of weapons by Armenia to the territory of Azerbaijan, the illegal arrival of third-country citizens, including terrorists, the plundering of the natural resources of Azerbaijan and their transportation along the Lachin-Khankendi road.

He also informed his French colleague about the transportation of mines from Armenia along the Lachin-Khankendi road and their installation on the territory of Azerbaijan.

“During the period after the signing of the trilateral statement, 294 citizens of Azerbaijan became victims of mines. Despite repeated warnings, the Armenian side did not respond to them. Azerbaijan also proposed the establishment of a border checkpoint on the Lachin-Khankendi road, but Armenia objected to this as well,” Bayramov recalled.

The minister stressed that Azerbaijan established a checkpoint on the border with Armenia, at the starting point of the Lachin-Khankendi road to ensure transparency in the use of this road.

“The road is open and will continue to be open,” Bayramov added.

In order to prevent the transportation of manpower, ammunition, mines, as well as other military equipment from Armenia for illegal Armenian armed groups on the territory of Azerbaijan, and as an adequate response to the unilateral establishment of a checkpoint by Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan on April 22 at the entrance to the Lachin-Khankendi road contrary to the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, on April 23 at 12:00 (GMT+4), the units of the State Border Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan set up a border checkpoint in its sovereign territories, on the border with Armenia, at the beginning of the Lachin-Khankendi road.

News.Az