“The strategic importance of Lachin region is also that the Lachin corridor passes through the territory of the region and inside the city of Lachin. As you know, this corridor is under the control of Russian peacekeeping forces. This was stated by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his address to the nation. According to the President, the corridor was under the control of the Armenian armed forces and occupiers for many years:
"I can say that the initial version of the joint statement, signed on November 10, contained a provision that this corridor should remain under the control of the Armenian armed forces. I protested, and as a result, the corridor came under the control of Russian peacekeeping forces. I think this is a great achievement. The Lachin corridor has been cleared of Armenian occupying forces. I must also note that active work was underway on the initial version of the Declaration, especially shortly after the liberation of Shusha.
The initial version of the statement suggested that the width of the Lachin corridor be 30 kilometers. I strongly objected to this and said that this claim of the Armenian side is completely unfounded. There is no need for such a wide corridor to ensure security measures within the corridor. Therefore, I considered it a completely unacceptable proposal and expressed my opinion. Then, in the second option, the width of the Lachin corridor was 10 kilometers. I did not agree to this, and as a result, an agreement was reached on a five-kilometer-wide corridor. The five kilometers cover enough distance for us, for the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, and for security. ”