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Agence France-Presse

Azerbaijan on Sunday set up a checkpoint on the only land link between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, sparking an angry response from its arch-rival.
The move fuels tensions between the ex-Soviet Caucasus nations that fought two wars over Azerbaijan’s Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“The units of the Azerbaijani Border Service established a border checkpoint on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, at the entrance of the Lachin-Khankendi road,” the state border service said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia went to war in 2020 and in the 1990s over Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘Not our friends’: anger with Russia builds in Armenia
Under the Russia-brokered ceasefire that ended the 2020 conflict, Azerbaijan is required to guarantee safe passage on the Lachin corridor, which is patrolled by Russian peacekeepers.
Azerbaijan, however, said it set up the checkpoint at 12pm local time on Sunday “to prevent the illegal transportation of manpower, weapons, mines.”
It said the checkpoint “shall be implemented in interaction with the Russian peacekeeping force.”
Washington said it was “deeply concerned that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process”.
“We reiterate that there should be free and open movement of people and commerce on the Lachin corridor and call on the parties to resume peace talks and refrain from provocations and hostile actions along the border,” the US State Department said in a statement.
Azerbaijan-Armenia border clash kills 5
Since last year tensions have risen over the Lachin corridor, with Russia focused on its offensive in Ukraine.
In December, Azerbaijani activists blocked the Lachin corridor to protest what they claim was illegal mining.
Armenia’s government in Yerevan accused Azerbaijan’s government in Baku of staging the demonstrations and creating a humanitarian crisis in the mountainous enclave.
In a new escalation on Sunday, Azerbaijan said it built the checkpoint following “threats and provocations” from Armenia, which denied the claims.
Baku accused Yerevan of using the corridor for the rotation of army staff, “the transfer of weapons and ammunition, entrance of terrorists, as well as illicit trafficking of natural resources and cultural property.”
It said it recorded military convoys entering Azerbaijan’s territory and “the construction of military infrastructure … at the point closest to the territory of Azerbaijan.”

The Armenian foreign ministry said the claims were a “far-fetched and baseless pretext”.
It said setting up the checkpoint was “a gross violation” of the 2020 ceasefire agreement, part of Baku’s “policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Separatist authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh called on “the Russian Federation to immediately begin discussions” including on “preventing the establishment” of the checkpoint.
Distracted by its offensive in Ukraine and the confrontation with the West, Russia has been visibly losing influence in the region, which it sees as its traditional sphere of influence.
US sees ‘historic’ chance for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh
Yerevan, which relies on Russia as a security guarantor, has grown frustrated over the Kremlin’s failure to fulfil its peacekeeping role.
Several servicemen from both sides have been killed in clashes in recent months.
And on Sunday, Armenia reported Azerbaijan’s forces killed one of its servicemen.
Azerbaijan said it was responding to enemy fire.


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Central Asia

Azerbaijan sets up first checkpoint on only land route to Armenia

Azerbaijani servicemen stand guard at a checkpoint at the Lachin corridor, the Armenian-populated breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region’s only land link with Armenia, in 2022. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / TNS

In an image taken from a YouTube footage released by the Armenian Defence Ministry in September 2022, Azerbaijani servicemen cross the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Photo: Armenian Defence Ministry via AP

‘Not our friends’: anger with Russia builds in Armenia

Armenian demonstrators wave national flags during a rally in Yerevan on May 1, 2022, against concessions to arch-foe Azerbaijan over the long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Photo: AFP

Armenian police officers restrain protesters during a rally against the country’s agreement to end fighting with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region outside the government headquarters in Yerevan on November 11, 2020. Photo: AFP

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Russian peacekeepers patrol an area near the Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery, as ethnic Armenians leave the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, in November 2020. Photo: AP

Azerbaijan-Armenia border clash kills 5

Armenian soldiers on the front line in 2020. On Sunday, an exchange of fire in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region left at least five dead. Photo: AFP

US calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to seize ‘historic’ chance for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh

Relatives and friends of those killed in six weeks of fighting for control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region visit the Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery in Yerevan, Armenia in September. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / TNS

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses parliament in Yerevan, Armenia. Photo: Tigran Mehrabyan / PAN Photo via Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

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World

Russia & Central Asia

Under the Russia-brokered ceasefire, Azerbaijan is required to guarantee safe passage on the Lachin corridor, which is patrolled by Russian peacekeepers
Azerbaijan said it set up the checkpoint on Sunday ‘to prevent the illegal transportation of manpower, weapons, mines’


The move fuels tensions between the ex-Soviet Caucasus nations that fought two wars over Azerbaijan’s Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
