Azerbaijani forces deploy an armored vehicle to completely block the Lachin Corridor on June 20

Russia on Wednesday called on Baku to unblock the Lachin Corridor and “not to make the population of Karabakh a hostage to political differences with Yerevan.”

This terse call to Baku was made by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, who also told reporters on Wednesday that Moscow is continuing to work through Russian peacekeepers for the complete unblocking of the Lachin Corridor and expects that the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides will fulfill all the obligations assumed by the tripartite agreement.

She emphasized that the November 9, 2020 agreement “is as relevant as it was before.”

Yet during the same press briefing, Zakharova said that an attempt by Azerbaijani forces to breach Armenia’s sovereign territory on June 15 and plant a flag there was a result of the absence of border demarcation between the two countries.

“The Lachin Corridor incident is related to the general problem of the absence of a demarcated Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The Russian side has repeatedly called on the effective work of the bilateral commission with the advisory support of the Russian Federation. We are ready to help in demarcation and determining the border, which has become another bone of contention between the parties,” Zakharova said.

“The peacekeepers are working closely with the parties to settle the situation,” she added, saying that any accusation against the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh is groundless and warned against media reports the undermine their efforts.
Zakharova also seemed to accuse Armenia of abandoning efforts led by Moscow to resolve the conflict, referring to processes put in place through agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“The interruption of Yerevan’s activities has a negative impact on the situation in the region and leads to the aggravation of the situation on the ground,” Zakharova said.

She also commented on Yerevan’s concerns regarding the opening of a Turkish consulate in occupied Shushi, which was announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey after when he visited Azerbaijan.

“The issue of opening consulates anywhere, particularly in Shushi, remains a topic of bilateral relations. In this case, between Baku and Ankara,” Zakharova said. “At the same time, we understand the sensitivity of the issue for Yerevan. In our contacts, we emphasize the need to consider each other’s interests and the importance of the process of normalization of both Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations.”