Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its population is predominantly Armenian.
The disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is facing food shortages due to a blockade now in its second week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, accusing Azerbaijan as well as Russia of failing to fulfill its peacekeeping mission in the region.
The enclave is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its inhabitants are predominantly Armenian.
The enclave broke away after a war in the early 1990s. In 2020, Azerbaijan recaptured territory in and around Nagorno-Karabakh after a short war that ended in a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
In the 2020 war, Armenia suffered a defeat and was forced to cede large tracts of territory to Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan told the cabinet that the humanitarian situation in the enclave is “extremely tense as a result of Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor,” according to Armenian news website Hetq.
The Armenian prime minister added that he has proposed conditions to Azerbaijan for lifting the blockade.
The only road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh passes through the Lachin Corridor on the territory of Azerbaijan, which a group of Azeri citizens, self-described environmental activists, blocked on December 13.
“Hundreds of families remain separated due to the blockade. In Nagorno-Karabakh, there are shortages of some basic goods, including food,” Pashinyan said.
On Monday, he tweeted that medical services could collapse in the enclave.
Baku maintains that the activists are participating in a genuine protest against illegal mining by Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and it was Russian peacekeepers who blocked the road.
Hetq also reported that Pashinyan accused the peacekeepers of not fulfilling the responsibilities assigned to them when they were deployed to the region in 2020.
“The Russian peacekeeping mission is not performing its duties in controlling the Lachin Corridor,” the Armenian Prime Minister said.
Russian military forces have been deployed in the region to maintain a fragile ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan and secure access to Nagorno-Karabakh through the corridor.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian peacekeepers were working to ensure peace and order in the areas where they were deployed. “Their actions are carried out based on the spirit and letter of the documents signed by us,” he said.
Violations of the 2020 ceasefire remain common, with more than 200 soldiers killed on both sides in a flare-up of fighting in September.
Finally, Pashinyan repeated his proposal for a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, while simultaneously calling for the region to be monitored either by United Nations forces or by a mission under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
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