First, they removed the two large tents, and on Sunday morning they began dismantling the two metal containers. Thus, the peacekeepers have effectively removed their part of the checkpoint, leaving only a couple of concrete slabs on the road itself.
Meanwhile, the checkpoint on the Azerbaijani side has expanded, and not only because of the tents of the environmental activists, who have been standing on the road for 14 days now.
Up to 200 Armenians marched yesterday from Khankendi to the peacekeepers’ lower checkpoint and handed them a statement demanding that the Azerbaijanis be removed from the road.
According to Armenian media, the peacekeepers’ command told the separatist leaders on Saturday that the Lachin road would be reopened on December 26.
On the same day, Vladimir Putin spoke to Ilham Aliyev on the phone and, according to the official report, they discussed security issues on the border.
Putting all these developments together, it is conceivable that the peacekeepers’ checkpoint at the entrance to Shusha from Lachin (the upper entrance) will be removed and the Azerbaijani checkpoint will remain there. As for the lower checkpoint near Shusha (from the direction of Khankendi), it appears that the peacekeepers will stay there for the time being.
Putin and Aliyev’s discussion of border security could mean that the “mini-customs” announced two weeks ago by General Volkov, commander of the peacekeepers, will start operating on the 26th.
If all of the above happens, it will mean that Azerbaijan is taking control of entry to and exit from Karabakh in coordination with the Russian side.
Translated from Turan
