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Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict

Lavrov discusses situation around Lachin corridor with Azerbaijani counterpart

"The sides stressed the importance of the resumption of work on all tracks of Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization on the basis of the trilateral agreements between the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders," the Russian foreign ministry said

MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. Ways of settling the situation around the Lachin corridor were the focus of a telephone conversation between Russian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Jeyhun Bayramov, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"On January 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. The ministers continued to discuss ways of settling the situation around the Lachin corridor," the ministry said.

"The sides stressed the importance of the resumption of work on all tracks of Azerbaijani-Armenian normalization on the basis of the trilateral agreements between the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders," the ministry said. "In this context, the Russian side reiterated its readiness to organize another round of talks between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers on a draft peace treaty between the two countries in Moscow."

On December 12, 2022, several Azerbaijani nationals, who claimed to be environmental experts, blocked passage through the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh where a Russian peacekeeping contingent is deployed. Azerbaijan said the protest action was not meant to block any roads and civilian vehicles were free to move in both directions.

Yerevan slammed this step as a provocation staged by Baku to cause a humanitarian collapse in the unrecognized republic. According to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the road’s blockage has already caused food shortages in Nagorno-Karabakh. On December 14, Armenia turned to the European Court of Human Rights demanding it oblige Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin corridor.

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