More much-needed humanitarian aid was on its way to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh via Azerbaijan and Armenia on Saturday. The development comes days after Baku regained control of the province and began talks with Armenian separatist representatives over reintegration.
The aid shipments and evacuations followed Azerbaijan's months-long road blockade of the region, which led to food and fuel shortages, and Baku's subsequent lightning military offensive this week.
The aid arrived via the so-called Lachin corridor, the region's only road link with Azerbaijan's neighbor Armenia. Russian peacekeepers were supposed to ensure free movement along the route, but the Azeris have imposed a blockade since December, claiming Yerevan was using the road for mineral extraction and illicit weapons shipments to the province's separatist forces.
Armenia has blamed the closure for denying supplies of basic food and fuel to Nagorno-Karabakh's estimated 120,000 people. Azerbaijan has rejected the accusation, arguing that the region could receive supplies through Aghdam – a solution long opposed by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, who called it a strategy for Baku to take control of the region.
Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces supported by the Armenian army in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. Armenian forces also took control of a large territory around the Azerbaijan region.
Azerbaijan regained control of surrounding territory in a six-week war with Armenia in 2020. A Russian-brokered armistice ended the war, and a contingent of 2,000 Russian peacekeepers was sent to the region to monitor it.
Last Tuesday, Azerbaijan launched a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh to eliminate alleged Armenian military formations present in the territory. A ceasefire was announced the next day, easing fears of a third full-scale war in the region.
Under the agreement brokered by Russian peacekeepers, the separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh made notable concessions: the dissolution of the region's defense forces and the withdrawal of the Armenian military contingent.
But the question of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains open, and is at the center of talks between the parties that began on Thursday in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh.
Hundreds of Armenians evacuated by Russian peacekeepers from Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan's offensive, which Baku called an “anti-terrorist operation”, were filmed on Saturday camping outside an airport near the Russian peacekeepers' base by local media.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on Friday reaffirmed Baku's determination to guarantee residents of Nagorno-Karabakh “all rights and freedoms” in line with the country's constitution and international rights obligations human rights, including the protection of ethnic minorities.
Azerbaijani authorities reported Saturday that they had shipped more than 60 tons of fuel that same day across the South Caucasus country's territory, via a road leading from the city of Aghdam to the regional capital of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Moscow also sent more than 50 tons of food aid and other “essential goods” to Nagorno-Karabakh, state agency RIA Novosti reported on Saturday. On the same day, the Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing Russian peacekeepers stationed in the region unloading the cargo.
However, during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan called for addressing the situation in the region. He accused Baku of launching an “unprovoked and well-planned military attack” against the province.
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