Azerbaijan installed a concrete barrier on the Lachin Corridor on June 22

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative on Armenia and Azerbaijan talks Igo Khovaev visited Yerevan on Friday and held meetings with Armenian government officials regarding the ongoing — more than seven-month-long — Azerbaijani blockade of Artsakh.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan spoke about the imperative to address the rights and security issues of the people of Nagorno Karabakh under the international mechanism was emphasized.

Khovaev and Mirzoyan “thoroughly discussed the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted by the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor. The need for Azerbaijan to immediately lift the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, in accordance with the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020 and the rulings of the UN International Court of Justice of February 22 and July 6,” the foreign ministry said.

Mirzoyan also discussed Yerevan’s approaches regarding the establishment of comprehensive stability in the South Caucasus and key issues in the process of regulating relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Khovaev, who is also the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, also met with Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan, who emphasized the need for Azerbaijan to honor its obligations and implement the provisions of the November 9, 2020 agreement.

Grigoryan told Khovaev the Lachin Corridor blockaded continued a violation of that agreement.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned the visiting Russian diplomat of the deepened humanitarian crisis emanating from the blockade and emphasized the need for addressing the dire situation immediately.