Baku urges Yerevan to stop ecological terror

The Environmental Protection First (EPF) Coalition has issued a statement condemning France's transfer of uranium-based radioactive waste to areas of Armenia near the border with Azerbaijan.

According to French media reports, the export of uranium waste to Armenia was agreed upon during a February 2025 meeting in Paris between French President Emmanuel Macron and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Following this, large and suspicious donations from the French side were made to the ‘My Step’ Foundation, led by Pashinyan’s wife, Anna Hakobyan, as a form of compensation.

This process began in June 2025, and the first batch of nuclear waste has already been transported to Armenia’s Dilijan National Park. Situated north of Lake Goycha and entirely within the Aghstafa River basin at altitudes between 1100 and 2800 meters, water runoff from this area ultimately flows into the Kura River. Since the park is close to the Gadabay, Tovuz, Aghstafa, and Gazakh districts, biodiversity across large parts of Azerbaijan is under threat.

Storing nuclear waste in a seismically active region like Armenia further amplifies the environmental threat.

The EPF said that France has already been criticized for dumping nuclear waste into oceans near its former colonies, but now, transporting this waste to Armenia should raise concern globally, including within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"We call on Armenian environmental organizations to rise against this act of ecological terrorism. The France-Armenia tandem must be stopped from violating key international accords such as the Espoo Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Helsinki Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes," the statement reads.

Although Yerevan has attempted to dismiss the French media reports as “disinformation,” they refuse to allow independent verification.

"We call on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to grant Azerbaijani civil society organizations and representatives of the IAEA and other international bodies access to conduct monitoring in the Armenian territories near the Azerbaijani border where the radioactive waste is reportedly being stored," the statement reads.