Humanitarian Situation in Nagorno Karabakh Remains Tense – PM Pashinyan to President Putin

SOCHI—Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday for the second time in two weeks to discuss bilateral ties and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

The talks followed Putin’s collective meeting with the prime ministers of Eurasian Intergovernmental Council states, who held a regular session in the Russian city of Sochi.

“I am very pleased to have the opportunity, on the sidelines of today’s event, to once again talk about the current situation in bilateral terms and in regional areas, which we spoke about in such detail at the previous meeting in Moscow,” Putin told Pashinyan in his short opening remarks.

Pashinyan said, for his part, that they will discuss the tense humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan’s continuing blockade of the Lachin corridor.

“We will discuss the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers. Unfortunately, the humanitarian situation there remains tense. There has been no gas and electricity in Nagorno-Karabakh for several months, and the situation in the Lachin Corridor continues to be quite tense. By the way, I must emphasize that now the supplies of food to Nagorno Karabakh are carried out with the support of Russian peacekeepers. It is a limited amount of food. The humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh continues, and it is also a very important issue that I am sure we will discuss today,” Pashinyan told Putin.