Tensions between Baku and Yerevan have mounted in recent weeks over a Russia-patrolled land corridor linking Armenia to the next-door Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Although most of Nagorno-Karabakh’s roughly 120,000 inhabitants are ethnic Armenians, the region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Yerevan accuses Azerbaijan of blocking its only land route to the region—the so-called Lachin Corridor—in breach of a 2020 ceasefire agreement between the two former Soviet republics.
Baku, for its part, has stated that its actions conform to international law and accuses Armenia of using the corridor to funnel arms into Nagorno-Karabakh—a claim Yerevan denies.
On May 1, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted the foreign ministers of both countries in Washington in an effort to resolve the impasse.
The talks, which reportedly included one-on-one meetings followed by a three-way discussion, weren’t expected to produce any immediate breakthroughs.
According to one State Department official, the discussions were mainly intended to let the two sides “sit down and talk to each other.”
“It’s most important that the two of them are able to continue their negotiations,” the official said.
Long-Simmering Conflict
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia captured most of Nagorno-Karabakh—an area of roughly 2,730 square miles—from neighboring Azerbaijan.Armenia remained in control of the region until late 2020, when it fought a second war with Azerbaijan that saw the latter retake almost all lost territory.
The six-week conflict ended with a Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement, while Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and along parts of the Lachin Corridor.
On April 27, the Russian Foreign Ministry said efforts were underway “by Russia’s peacekeeping contingent ... and on the political level” to “bring the process back to the path outlined in the trilateral agreements of Nov. 9, 2020.”
Despite the 2020 ceasefire agreement, clashes between the two warring sides continue to flare up intermittently.
On April 11, seven soldiers were killed—three Azerbaijanis and four Armenians—during an armed clash near the Lachin Corridor.
Checkpoint Increases Tension
The dispute was exacerbated on April 23 when Azerbaijan erected a military checkpoint near the opening of the Lachin Corridor.In justification for the move, Baku accused Armenia of using the land route to bring military personnel and equipment—including landmines—into the region, in violation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement.
“In light of these provocations, the establishment of a border-control mechanism at the starting point of the Lachin road will provide transparency over road traffic and ensure security,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It went on to assert that the checkpoint, which operates in conjunction with the Russian peacekeeping contingent, wouldn’t impede civilian traffic.
But Yerevan said that the checkpoint violates the terms of the 2020 ceasefire agreement, which stipulates that the corridor must be kept open.
Armenian officials have also claimed that inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh are now facing food shortages because of the corridor’s alleged closure.
Mediation Efforts
Last week, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna visited both capitals in an effort to mediate the crisis.At a joint press conference with Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov on April 27, Colonna sharply criticized what she described as the “unilateral measures” taken by Baku.
“Freedom of movement in the corridor is essential to reestablish trust,” she said.
Bayramov responded by saying that, since late 2020, Baku had repeatedly warned that Armenia was using the corridor to funnel arms into Nagorno-Karabakh.
“But I don’t remember France making any statement against Armenia,” he said.
One day earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue.
According to a subsequent statement released by the Kremlin, the two leaders “discussed developments around Nagorno-Karabakh with a focus on resolving practical tasks to ensure stability and security in the region.”
“In the context of the current situation in the Lachin Corridor, they confirmed the importance of strict observance of the ... fundamental agreements reached [in November 2020] by the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan,” the statement reads.
Shortly after the phone call between Putin and Pashinyan, Moscow appointed Col. Gen. Alexander Lentsov, deputy commander of Russian ground forces, to lead its peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a six-nation military alliance led by Moscow.
Although Azerbaijan maintains good relations with Russia, it isn’t a member of the alliance.
