BAKU: Russian humanitarian aid arrived on Tuesday in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh via territory controlled by Azerbaijan, separatist authorities in the Armenian-populated enclave said.
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh by closing the only road connecting the mountainous region with Armenia.
This critical passage, known as the Lachin corridor, is supervised by Russian peacekeepers as part of a ceasefire agreement brokered by Moscow between the former Soviet Caucasus nations in 2020.
However, Azerbaijan has rebuffed these allegations, asserting that Nagorno-Karabakh has the ability to receive supplies through territory under Azerbaijani control.
“The Russian Red Cross’s humanitarian aid was delivered to the Republic of Artsakh (on Tuesday),” the rebel government’s information centre said, using Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian name.
This report was corroborated by Azerbaijan’s Red Crescent, which confirmed that a truck belonging to Russia’s Red Cross arrived in the city of Stepanakert via the Aghdam road, which connects the region with the remainder of Azerbaijan.
In early September, Azerbaijan had agreed to simultaneously reopen Lachin corridor and the Aghdam road for humanitarian supplies, but Armenian separatists rejected the proposal.
Both Yerevan and International aid organizations have issued warnings regarding severe shortages of food and medicine in the region. These tension over aid coincide with mutual accusations between the two sides for cross-border clashed.
Just last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan cautioned about the potential for a renewed full-scale conflict, accusing Baku of amassing troops along their shared border and near Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have engaged in two wars over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, with the most recent conflict in 2020 culminating in a Russian-brokered ceasefire that resulted in Armenia relinquishing swaths of territory it had held for decades. Pashinyan has recently remarked that Moscow either lacks the capability or willingness to control the Lachin corridor.
Despite mediation efforts by the European Union, United States, and Russia, Baku and Yerevan have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement.
