Newsletter of the Artsakh Government – Day 89 Under Blockade

Housing construction of houses Artsakh residents displaced by the war has almost stopped

Due to the blockade, the construction of 107 private houses being built in the administrative area of ​​the Ivanyan community of the Askeran region with the funds of the state budget of the Artsakh Republic and the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has almost stopped.

The construction of most of the homees is at the stage of completion, but due to the lack of building materials at the moment, construction is almost at a complete standstill. If it were not for the blockade, the first 40 private houses would have been completed at the end of last year and beginning of 2023.

In case of the opening of the road blocked by the Azerbaijan, constructionof the district will be resumed, and the first houses built in a very short time will be put into operation.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has spread more disinformation. Defense Ministry of Artsakh

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan spread disinformation that the units of the Artsakh Defense Army allegedly opened fire in the occupied territories of Shushi, Martun, Askeran and Kashatagh regions of the Republic of Artsakh between 21:30 on March 8 and 04:15 on March 9  in the direction of the Azerbaijani positions.

The Artsakh MFA issued a comment on disinformation message issued by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan

On March 7, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan spread disinformation that allegedly on the same day, accompanied by peacekeepers of the Russian Federation, a convoy of military equipment of the Republic of Armenia passed through the Stepanakert-Lisagor road.

In this regard, we consider it necessary to emphasize that the information disseminated by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan does not correspond to reality and is another lie aimed at misleading the international community by the Azerbaijan.

The human rights defender published an extraordinary report

The human rights defender of the Republic of Artsakh published a report on the terrorist operation carried out by Azerbaijani armed forces ambush group on March 5, 2023.

The report was prepared in an open and a closed version, in Armenian and English. It was sent to international and human rights organizations.

A number of personnel changes were made in the Artsakh government

On March 8, Artsakh Republic President Arayik Harutyunyan signed a number of decrees, according to which Hrant Safaryan was dismissed from the position of the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Artsakh. Georgi Hayriyan was appointed the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Artsakh.

Armen Mangasaryan was dismissed from the position of the Minister of Social Development and Migration of the Republic of Artsakh, and Vahram Arakelyan was appointed as the Minister.

Aram Sargsyan was dismissed from the position of the Minister of Urban Development of the Republic of Artsakh. The performance of the duties of the Minister of Urban Development of the Republic of Arrsakh was temporarily entrusted to the Deputy Minister Azat Hambardzumyan.

According to the decisions of the Government approved earlier by the President of the Republic, Georgi Hayriyan was released from the position of the chairman of the Water Committee of the Republic of Artsakh, whose duties were temporarily assigned to the first deputy chairman of the committee, Ararat Khachatryan, and Vahram Arakelyan was released from the position of the Deputy Minister of Social Development and Migration of the Republic of Artsakh.

Update of daily statistics

338 children have been born under the blockade.

About 820 people have been deprived of the opportunity to receive necessary medical treatment due to suspension of planned surgeries in all medical facilities of Artsakh.

As of today, 153 patients have been transferred from Artsakh to Armenia to receive appropriate medical care with the mediation and accompaniment of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Due to the Red Cross not having an ambulance and only being able to transport patients with an ordinary vehicle, it is not possible to transport patients needing to lay down because Azerbaijan has obstructed the movement of Artsakh ambulances.

755 business entities (17.7% of the total) have suspended their activities due to the impossiblemoperating conditions under the blockade, while the remaining operate partially or with state support.

At least 6,400 people have lost jobs and sources of income as a result of the impact on the economy.

More than 35,600 tons of vital supplies, which would have been delivered during the period of the blockade, have not reached Artsakh. Only a meager amount, about 2,530 tons of goods, mostly food and medicine, has since been delivered by the ICRC and the Russian peacekeeping forces.

During the blockade, the economy of the Republic of Artsakh suffered a loss of around 150 million US dollars, leading to decline of the predicted annual GDP index (903 million dollars) by more than 16 percent.

Key facts

Due to the shortages in food, 20 long-day educational institutions have been working partially since January 9, and in different periods, instruction of kindergartens and schools were also completely or partially stopped.

Since the beginning of the blockade, several types of food, specifically almost all types of vegetables and fruits, which were imported from Armenia, have faced drastic shortages and eventually became unavailable. Considering the shortages of food, a special coupon system has been in effect in Artsakh since January 20. Within the coupon system, limited volumes of pasta, buckwheat, rice, sugar, oil, fruits, vegetables, eggs, as well as non-food products like washing powder, are sold.

Since January 9, the only high-voltage power line between Armenia and Artsakh has been cut in the territory under Azerbaijani control. The Azerbaijani side does not allow Artsakh specialists to enter and restore the power supply. Taking into account that the volume of domestic electricity production, currently run on hydropower, is much less than consumption, and the water resources of the Sarsang reservoir are decreasing, rolling blackouts have been instituted. From January 10 Artsakh switched to 2-hour blackouts, from January 17 to 4-hour blackouts, and since January 21 residents experience 6 hours of blackouts each day.

Since the beginning of the blockade, many countries and international organizations have condemned Azerbaijan’s actions and called for the lifting of the blockade. This issue was also discussed in the UN Security Council while the European Court of Human Rights ordered Azerbaijan to take all necessary and sufficient measures to end the blockade. The issue will soon be considered in the UN International Court of Justice (The Hague) as part of the proceedings of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

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