YEREVAN, July 17. /TASS/. The Azerbaijani authorities refuse to provide the Armenian side with a corridor for launching the Armenia-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Russia railway, Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said on Saturday at a press conference with President of the European Council Charles Michel.

"As you know, the statement from November 9 (trilateral statement of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia - TASS) includes unblocking all economic and transport communications in the region. Azerbaijan hinders this process not only by threatening the occupation of the sovereign territory of Armenia, but also refusing to provide Armenia with a corridor to launch the Armenia-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Russia railway," he said.

Baku and Yerevan have disputed the ownership of the region since February 1988. The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the United States, and France, was created as a format for finding ways to peacefully resolve the conflict. It also includes Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The situation in the conflict zone around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27. After a month and a half of fighting in the conflict zone, on November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.