In an interview with Azerbaijani state television, President Ilham Aliyev said that the schedule and route of the new alternative road to the Lachin corridor had been agreed upon with Russia and that Armenia was aware of this.
He also added that during the construction of the road, Azerbaijani builders and the local Armenian population were in contact without the intervention of Russian peacekeepers.
“Armenians living in Karabakh will have no status, no independence, no special privileges. Both for the citizens of Azerbaijan and for them,” Aliyev said, commenting on the status of the part of Karabakh where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily stationed.
Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to state television AzTV during his visit to the town of Basgal in the Ismayilli region of Azerbaijan.
On agreeing to a date for the construction of an alternative road to the Lachin corridor
According to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the tripartite statement of November 10, 2020 “clearly states that a new road will be built, and its planning and approval shall be ensured within three years.”
“We built this road in just one year. Its length is 32 kilometers. Prior to that, immediately after the second Karabakh war we began negotiations with Russia regarding the path of this road. That is, this road did not appear by itself. We agreed on it.
“There were several possible routes, but in the end, we chose this one. The Ministry of Defense of Russia agreed with us on this route and approved it. If it were otherwise, how could we build a road on territory under the temporary control of Russia,” Aliyev said.
He also commented on Armenia disputing the legality of the construction of an alternative road:
“If someone is trying to accuse us of doing something illegal or taking some kind of unilateral step, this is absolutely not true. We can prove it at any level.
“You can send a request to the official bodies of Russia and view all the documents on how this road was built, all the approvals. This route has been approved.
“Of course, we were not obliged to coordinate with Armenia, because this does not concern Armenia in any way. It’s just that Armenia was notified at which point there would be an exit to the Armenian border, and they, for their part, had to build a new road there. But unfortunately they didn’t. Why? To drag out time. There is no other reason.”
And Russia is aiding Aliyev in all this.
So is the United States.