Armenian Residents of Lachin and Zabukh/Aghavno to Move to Armenia
The residents of Lachin city and Zabukh/Aghavno village are preparing to move. On August 5, they were told they had to leave the village by August 25. Hayk Khanumyan, the de-facto Territory and Infrastructure Minister of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh, said that they will be supported. The residents of Zabukh/Aghavno are also expected to receive a certificate to buy an apartment. However, for this, they were asked to move without damaging the houses in the village.
According to Narek Aleksanyan, the de-facto Executive Head of Lachin, the Russian peacekeeping contingent will ensure the safety of residents until August 25. "The peacekeepers will change their places and move to an alternative corridor. They are still providing the safety of civilians here, but they will leave later," said Aleksanyan.
Moreover, on August 5, a group of Nagorno-Karabakh residents protested in front of the Russian Embassy in Yerevan. They demanded from Russia the proper implementation of the peacekeeping mission in Karabakh. Protesters said that international peacekeepers should be deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Embassy did not respond to these demands.
Later, the demonstrators went to the French Embassy and asked the country to send a peacekeeping mission to Nagorno-Karabakh. The employee of the Embassy listened to them, and the protestors gave him a letter. The residents said that these areas are being evacuated because the Lachin corridor will be handed over to Azerbaijan on August 25.
Azerbaijan has declared that as soon as the works on the new alternative road to the Lachin corridor are completed, it is planned to transfer the Russian peacekeeping forces to that road.