For the South Caucasus, precedents are very important. The separatist movements in Tskhinvali and Abkhazia began only after the separatist movement of Armenian nationalists in Azerbaijani Karabakh began. And in many ways Abkhaz and Ossetian separatism developed according to the Armenian 'Artsakh' script.

The wars in Karabakh, Samachablo and Abkhazia were unleashed under the same scenario and in all three regions the Russian army fought on the side of the separatists and won in all three cases, allowing the separatists to carry out genocide and ethnic cleansing. The Sukhumi, Tskhinvali and Khankendi separatists then recognized each other's "independence".

We all know that the separatist movements in Georgia and Azerbaijan were coordinated from the same centre by the same Armenian lobby. They thus set precedents for redrawing borders and ethnic cleansing and created another (which will undoubtedly become a mono-ethnic) "Armenian territory" in the South Caucasus - in Georgian Abkhazia.

Separatist plans are rapidly failing. And it seems that the day is not far off when the separatist projects in Abkhazia and Samachablo will be eliminated and Georgian border checkpoints of Georgian border guards and customs service will appear at the internationally recognised Georgian borders on the river Psou in Abkhazia and at the southern portal of the Roki tunnel in Samachablo.

It is very symbolic that Georgian checkpoints at all border crossings with the Russian Federation became even closer on April 23, 2023 as a checkpoint of the Azerbaijani State Border Service appeared on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on the Lachin road. The hotbed of separatist contagion in Azerbaijani Karabakh is completely isolated. Its "decontamination" is a matter of the very near future. After this the turn of the separatist regimes in Sukhumi and Tskhinvali will inevitably come.

According to the Azerbaijani State Border Guard Service (SBS), on April 23, 2023 its units set up a border checkpoint on the border with Armenia at the beginning of the Lachin-Khankendi road on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. This is in response to Armenia's unilateral establishment of a border checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin-Khankendi road on the border with Azerbaijan at 12:00 on 22 April 2023.

КThe State Border Guard Service of Azerbaijan has been established to prevent the illegal transfer of fighters, ammunition, mines, as well as other military equipment from Armenia to the illegal Armenian armed formations in the territory of Azerbaijan, carried out contrary to the Trilateral Statement of 10 November 2020. This means that from today all movement from Armenia to and from Khankendi will be under the full control of Azerbaijani border guards. After some time customs posts will also be established there.

 Azerbaijan has informed the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and the Russian-Turkish monitoring centre of the border checkpoint on the Lachin road.

In turn, Head of the Press Service Department of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aikhan Hajizadeh tweeted that Azerbaijan established the border checkpoint because of Armenia's misuse of the Lachin-Khankendi road and the ensuing security threats.

"Appropriate conditions will be created for the passage of Karabakh Armenians in both directions," Ayhan Hajizade notes.

"According to the commitments under the trilateral statement, this additional measure, which is a guarantee of security on the part of Azerbaijan for the movement of citizens, vehicles and goods along the Lachin road, will create the necessary conditions for the transparent and orderly passage of Armenian residents living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan from this point to Armenia and Azerbaijan in both directions.

This control mechanism will be implemented in cooperation with the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

The Azerbaijani side expresses its readiness to cooperate to ensure transparent and secure border crossing regime with Armenia," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The speculative cries of Armenian nationalists about a "new genocide" have no basis whatsoever. Although there is no doubt that they will be everywhere, including among the Armenian "fifth column" in Georgia, on the mythical "genocide" day of 24 April, which is significant for the Armenian nationalists.

Azerbaijan considers the Armenian residents of Karabakh to be full citizens, guarantees all their rights under the Azerbaijani constitution, and urges them to resolve their citizenship issues as soon as possible. There is still time to do so. But it is not in the interests of the Karabakh Armenians to delay the process of acquiring Azerbaijani citizenship.

Those of the Karabakh Armenians who for whatever reason do not want to become citizens of Azerbaijan have time to calmly settle their property issues and resettle in other countries, leaving Azerbaijan by the Lachin road through the Azerbaijani checkpoint. They will be guaranteed full security and inviolability of personal property. As a matter of principle, Azerbaijan will not tolerate any violence or violation of human rights on its territory on the grounds of nationality. This does not compare with the atrocities and genocide perpetrated by the separatists and Armenian fighters against the Azerbaijani population of Khojaly and the Georgian population of Sukhumi and Gagra.

Knowing that the same prospects await the separatists of Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, the Armenian fighters of Baghramyan battalion and other separatist marauders that settled in houses and flats of Georgian refugees in Abkhazia do not need to invite their compatriots from Karabakh to them. They will have to change their place of residence again later anyway. If there is no desire to answer for their crimes under the laws of Georgia, they should just quickly free other people's homes and other people's land from their presence.

P.S. When one separatist project in the South Caucasus is finally liquidated in the Azerbaijani Karabakh, but there are still separatist regimes in Georgia, in Abkhazia and Samachablo, it is unacceptable that in the capital of Georgia, in Tbilisi there were separatist propaganda gatherings and rallies of Armenian nationalists, timed to April 24 - the anniversary of the mythical "genocide". These provocative events violate the Georgian legislation and promote separatism, extremism, national, religious and racial hatred.

Tbilisi should become a centre of a new peaceful and dynamically developing Caucasus without separatism and ethnic hatred, a centre of unification of the Caucasian peoples. Therefore, hate speech and separatist-justifying gatherings on the occasion of the anniversary of the mythical "genocide" in Tbilisi is unacceptable and Georgian authorities should stop them for the sake of the future of their country.

Alexandr Gedevanov