CSTO head says situation on Lachin road beyond organisation’s responsibility

Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Stanislav Zas has said that the solution to the issue related to the Lachin road, which Yerevan raises at the international level, is beyond the CSTO’s responsibility.

“There were no such appeals [by Armenia regarding the Lachin road], we think that this is beyond the CSTO’s responsibility,” Zas told the Russian media, according to Caliber.Az.

The blockade of the Lachin road near Shusha has been going on for the ninth day. More than a hundred civil society activists are standing on this highway. At the same time, the transport of Russian peacekeepers with their cargoes is allowed to pass unhindered.

Negotiations with the peacekeepers on the admission of representatives of Baku to the mines illegally developed by the Armenian separatists have yielded no results. The demand for the separatists to recognize the laws of Azerbaijan and allow access to gold, copper and molybdenum mines in the former Mardakert (Aghdere) region remains in force. The Armenian side does not demonstrate readiness to fulfil these requirements.

Participants of the action are guarded by the Special Forces of Azerbaijan's Foreign Intelligence Service.