Events Overview

On December 3, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology stated that natural resources are illegally exploited in the Karabakh area, where Russian forces are stationed. Based on a request from the Ministry of Ecology, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense contacted Russian peacekeepers to observe and confirm the unlawful mining of minerals. 

"The work of a group of experts in the areas of temporary deployment of Russian peacekeeping forces to investigate and control illegal exploitation of minerals and environmental damage caused by them is being discussed with the command of peacekeeping forces. The public will be informed of the results of the negotiations," the Ecology Ministry said.

On the same day at about 11:00 AM, officers from the Ministry of Ecology, the State Service for Real Estate, and "AzerGold" visited the Russian troops' roadblock between Khankendi/Stepanakert and Shusha.

At 01:00 PM, the Lachin passageway was closed by Azerbaijanis. According to reports in Armenia, this allegedly occurred in Shusha. They assert that several men dressed in black committed this act.

At 04:00 PM, the road was opened after the agreement between the Russian and Azerbaijani sides.

Azerbaijani group starts an examination

On December 10, it was reported that the visit of Azerbaijani environmentalists was coordinated with the Russian peacekeeping troops in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Based on the letter to the command of the peacekeeping troops of the Russian Federation stationed in the region where peacekeepers stationed to observe the mines of the Aghdara/Martakert region, the Azerbaijani side planned to visit the mines of Dromboni and Kashen.

On the same day, Masim Mammadov, the representative of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy, stated that they faced sabotage in both mining areas they visited for inspection. Azerbaijan's monitoring of mineral deposits in the areas where Russian peacekeepers are located has not been carried out again.

"We saw a group of aggressive young people gathered at that place. They prevented us from entering those facilities and beds. We believe that this was a premeditated provocation. Vitaly Balasanyan, who came there, and Ruben Vardanyan, who presented himself as a representative of the so-called regime, are behind that provocation. Despite their promises regarding the organization of our visit as a result of the previous discussions, conditions for our normal activities were not created by the Russian peacekeeping forces," the information stated.

According to Mammadov, they saw a large crowd gathered at the entrance of the second facility they visited. "When we looked, we saw the same people cut the road again in the direction we were moving, except for those objects. Although the representatives of the Russian peacekeeping forces, the leadership, and the command entered into negotiations with them, no result was achieved. We believe this is a provocation organized by two sides," the representative of the Ministry said.