Defense Ministry announces talks with Azerbaijan on Lachin corridor

The command of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh is negotiating with representatives of Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin corridor – the only transport artery connecting the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Armenia. This was reported in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, transmits TASS.

“The command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent is negotiating with representatives of Azerbaijan to resume the unhindered movement of civilian vehicles along the Stepanakert-Goris road,” the defense ministry said.

On December 12, for the second time this month, Azerbaijanis blocked the Stepanakert-Goris highway in the Lachin corridor, Andranik Kocharyan, head of the commission on defense and security issues of the Armenian parliament, reported. Baku explained the blocking of the route by the need to check cargo for the export of gold from mines actually controlled by the NKR.

On December 10, a group of Azerbaijani officials planned to visit the mines of Drmbon and Kashen, located in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers, but employees of the enterprise and local residents blocked their entry. On December 12, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry sent a note to Moscow with a request to organize access to the deposits, accusing the Russian peacekeepers of inaction.

The previous blocking of this route by Azerbaijani citizens under the same pretext of controlling the export of gold occurred on December 3 and was settled with the help of Russian peacekeepers.

At the end of October, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a trilateral meeting in Sochi, where they agreed to refrain from using or threatening to use force in the context of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. The meeting participants also stressed the importance of preparing for the conclusion of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Russia confirmed its readiness to provide the necessary assistance to this.

In early December, Yerevan and Baku exchanged drafts of a peace agreement, but, as Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan said, they managed to agree on only one point regarding the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in accordance with the Vienna Convention.