Azerbaijani protestor shares concerns about ecoterrorism in area of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment

By Trend

We're concerned about environmental terrorism on the Azerbaijani land, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, volunteer Kamala Ramazanova participating in protests, close to the peacekeepers' temporary deployment area, told Trend correspondent in Shusha on December 13.

"We came here with the 'Davam' Youth Movement to stand for the protection of the country's natural resources. We do not pursue aggressive goals. As one can see, we are without weapons, whereas Russian peacekeepers are armed before us. All we want as young people, who are going to live here in the future, is crossing to our own territory and conducting monitoring of the illicit mineral resource exploitation," she said.

Representatives of Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been protesting near Shusha, close to the Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment area. The protest is being held against the inadmissibility of Azerbaijani specialists to the territory, to monitor the illicit exploitation of the country's mineral resources.

Previously, following the talks with the Russian peacekeepers' command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC were going to begin preliminary monitoring of the illicit mineral resource exploitation, as well as emerging environmental implications on Azerbaijani lands, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed, on December 10, 2022.

The expert team was expected to inspect the environmental condition at the 'Gizilbulagh' gold deposit and the 'Damirli' copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to the environment, as well as to underground and surface water sources.

However, when arriving in the monitoring area, the expert group, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, faced provocations. The planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create necessary conditions and prevented for the entire process to carry on.