Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of uncoordinated installation of a checkpoint on the border

The Armenian side set up a checkpoint on the border with Azerbaijan without prior approval from Baku, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

The movement of Armenian transport on the evening of April 22 was recorded by surveillance cameras installed in the territory of the Lachin region. By data military department of the republic, the convoy moved from the Armenian village of Kornidzor, crossed the bridge over the Khakari River on the conditional Azerbaijani-Armenian border and entered the territory of Azerbaijan. Baku believes that the conditions for the penetration of military cargo from Armenia to the territory of the neighboring country were allegedly created by Russian peacekeepers.

Cars were unloaded at the border with Azerbaijan, at the junction of the Lachin-Khankendi road, two residential containers, the department specified. They added that the checkpoint installation site was prepared in advance.

“Our observation confirmed the establishment by the Armenian side of a border checkpoint on the border with Azerbaijan, at the entrance to the Lachin-Khankendi road, without prior agreement and in violation of the tripartite statement of November 10, 2020,” the report says.

The aggravation of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh has been dragging on since September 2020, when hostilities began in the region between the military of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a result, a tripartite statement was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Active hostilities have ceased in the conflict zone, and Russian peacekeepers have also been deployed along the line of contact and in the Lachin corridor. At the same time, the parties periodically accuse each other of provocations and shelling.

Since the beginning of December 2022, the Armenian side has been talking about the actual blockade of the Lachin corridor in Karabakh by Azerbaijani activists, as a result of which there is a shortage of essential goods in Armenian settlements. Azerbaijan responds with accusations of smuggling weapons through the corridor.