US State Department urged Azerbaijan to unblock Lachin corridor between Armenia and Karabakh

WASHINGTON, December 14 – RIA Novosti. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the US urged Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported earlier that the command of the Russian peacekeeping unit is negotiating with representatives of Azerbaijan to resume the unhindered movement of civilian vehicles along the Stepanakert-Goris road.

“The closure of the Lachin corridor has serious humanitarian consequences and will retard the peace process. We call on the Azerbaijani government to restore free movement along the corridor. The way forward is through negotiations,” Price wrote on Twitter.

On Monday, Azerbaijani media reported that local activists and journalists staged a protest action on the road against the exploitation of, according to them, illegal mineral deposits. Later, Armenian Ambassador Edmon Marukyan said that Azerbaijani citizens, who introduce themselves as environmentalists, “closed the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia”.

The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of an “imminent threat of food and humanitarian crisis” in Nagorno-Karabakh and described the situation as a violation of the Tripartite Declaration of 9 November 2020, in which the Lachin corridor remained under Russian control. peacekeeping unit and Azerbaijan guarantees the security of movement throughout it.

The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan reported on Tuesday that Hikmet Hajiyev, a deputy of the President of Azerbaijan, informed the representatives of the diplomatic unit and military attachés accredited in the country about the situation in the vicinity of the protest near Stepanakert (Republic of Azerbaijan). Khankendi). In his speech, Hajiyev blamed Yerevan and said that “Baku will not allow the Armenian side of Azerbaijan to plunder the natural resources of Azerbaijan”.