BAKU, Jan 24 In a conversation with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he stated that there was no blockade of the road linking Karabakh with Armenia, the official website of the head of state reports.
«On January 23, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. During the conversation, Aliyev stated that there was no blockade on the Lachin-Khankendi road, and stressed that since December 12, 2022, about 980 vehicles have passed along this road, more than 850 cars of Russian peacekeepers and more than 120 cars of the ICRC.The President also noted that about 90 patients living in Karabakh and in need of medical assistance were delivered to Armenia through the ICRC,» the statement says.
According to the press service, during the conversation, Aliyev also repeated Baku's previous position that the exploitation of mineral deposits in Karabakh should be stopped. «At the same time, the possibility of constant monitoring and inspections by Azerbaijan should be provided at the fields,» the press service said.
The Russian Defense Ministry previously reported that on December 12 last year, the Azerbaijani side blocked the Stepanakert-Goris road, the only highway that connects Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, in connection with which the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent is negotiating with representatives of Azerbaijan to resume the unimpeded movement of civilian transport in this direction . The US State Department also called on the Azerbaijani side to unblock the Lachin corridor. Baku calls what is happening a protest action of civil activists and environmentalists against the «illegal activities of the Armenian side.»
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on January 18 that the issue of the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh could be resolved in the near future. He noted that Moscow offered Baku and Yerevan the following mechanism: Russian peacekeepers should have the authority under a trilateral agreement to control traffic along the Lachin corridor, including checking vehicles for the absence of prohibited non-humanitarian, non-civilian goods.