Azerbaijan on Sunday accused Russia of failing to meet its obligations under the 2020 ceasefire agreement that Moscow sponsored to end the war between Baku and Armenia for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region (Nagorny-Karabakh).
“The Russian side has not ensured full implementation of the agreement within the framework of its obligations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said, adding that Moscow “did nothing to prevent” the Armenia to deliver military equipment to separatist forces in the enclave.
In the fall of 2020, Moscow sponsored a ceasefire agreement at the end of a six-week war that saw the defeat of Armenian forces, forced to cede territories they had controlled for decades.
Russia had undertaken to deploy soldiers to guarantee free movement between Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh via the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Armenia to the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh.
This was closed on Tuesday by Azerbaijan on the grounds of acts of “smuggling” carried out by the Armenian branch of the Red Cross, which was nevertheless able to resume medical evacuations from Nagorny Karabakh on Friday.
On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged Azerbaijan to reopen the corridor.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met in Brussels on Saturday for European Union-mediated talks aimed at resolving decades of conflict.
Baku and Yerevan are trying to negotiate a peace agreement with the help of the European Union and the United States, whose growing diplomatic involvement in the Caucasus irritates Moscow.
On Saturday, in an effort to regain control, Russia offered to host a meeting of the two countries’ foreign ministers, and suggested that the future peace treaty could be signed in Moscow.