There have been reports of the road being totally closed after June 15 when shots were fired in an incident
in which the South Caucasus countries said in separate statements that one Azerbaijani and one Armenian border guard had been wounded. "Such steps lead to increased tension and are not conducive to maintaining a normal atmosphere around the ongoing process of normalising relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia with Russian assistance. We call on Baku to unblock the Lachin corridor in its entirety," said Zakharova.
Baku has denied imposing a blockade, but has said it has taken what it called "relevant measures to investigate the reasons for this provocation, as well as to ensure the security of the border checkpoint." Azerbaijan in April established a checkpoint at the entrance to the corridor following months of disruption caused by people who called themselves Azerbaijani environmental activists, a step it said was essential due to what it cast as Armenia's use of the road to transport weapons.
Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire banker who was a top official in Karabakh's separatist government until February, on Thursday accused Baku of trying to "ethnically cleanse" the enclave by imposing what he called a goods and energy blockade – allegations that Azerbaijan denies. Azerbaijan's foreign minister told Reuters in an interview Baku was rejecting a demand from Armenia to provide special security guarantees for the enclave's ethnic Armenians ahead of a new round of peace talks, saying they were sufficiently protected.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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