BAKU, January 17. /TASS/. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that allegations that Azerbaijan is blocking the Lachin corridor are ungrounded, the Azerbaijani foreign minister said on Tuesday after their telephone call.
"Minister Bayramov noted that allegations that the Azerbaijani side has closed the Lachin road to block Armenians living on the territory of Azerbaijan and a subsequent humanitarian crisis are ungrounded. He stressed that these ungrounded allegations by the Armenian side are refuted by the fact that dozens of transport vehicles, cars of the (Russian) peacekeeping contingent, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Armenian ambulances are using the Lachin road daily," it said.
According to Bayramov, Armenians have a "legitimate right to protest against illegal economic activities on the Azerbaijani territories where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is deployed, including against the use of natural resources and the abuse of the Lachin road." "In this context, it was noted that it is necessary to meet the protesters’ fair demands," the ministry said, adding that the two top diplomats also discussed issues on the current bilateral agenda.
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.