Blinken Urges Azeri President To Open Lachin Corridor To Commercial Traffic - State Dept.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by telephone with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and called for the prompt reopening of the Lachin corridor - which links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh - to commercial traffic, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout of the conversation on Monday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2023) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by telephone with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and called for the prompt reopening of the Lachin corridor - which links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh - to commercial traffic, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout of the conversation on Monday.

"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev to urge an immediate reopening of the Lachin corridor to commercial traffic," the readout said. "He underscored that the risk of a humanitarian crisis in the Lachin corridor undermined prospects for peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Secretary encouraged President Aliyev to redouble efforts in bilateral peace discussions with Armenia."

Since December 12, the Lachin corridor has been blocked by a group from Azerbaijan described by Baku as environmental activists protesting alleged illegal mining by Armenians in the area.

Russian peacekeepers have been trying to broker an end to the blockade with Azerbaijan, which claims the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia has called the move a provocation meant to cause a humanitarian collapse in the region. Russia has said it was concerned by the situation in the region and would continue talking to both countries to restore freedom of movement.

On January 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Lachin corridor issue may be resolved in the near future. Lavrov noted that Moscow proposed to Baku and Yerevan a mechanism for Russian peacekeepers to have the authority to control movement through the Lachin corridor and check vehicles for prohibited non-humanitarian, non-civilian goods.