The sole road connecting Artsakh to Armenia was effectively closed by Azerbaijan for more than three hours on Saturday.
Authorities in Stepanakert said that a large group of Azerbaijanis blocked a road section outside the Azerbaijani-controlled Artsakh town of Shushi at around noon on ostensibly environmental grounds.
Shushanik Hayrian, a woman travelling to Artsakh from Armenia, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service shortly afterwards that a car carrying her and about 100 other vehicles were left stranded on the highway guarded by Russian peacekeepers.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that the individuals blocking the road sections are officials from the Azerbaijani ministries of environment and economy as well as an Azerbaijani gold mining company. In a statement, it said they wanted to investigate “illegal” mining activity in the area and its “ecological consequences.” It did not elaborate.
The statement added that they are now discussing the matter with the commanders of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in Artsakh.
The Artsakh government said later in the afternoon that the road has been unblocked as a result of three-hour negotiations. It accused Baku of seeking to disrupt Artsakh’s overland communication with Armenia and intimidate the territory’s ethnic Armenian population.
A separate statement released by the foreign ministry in Stepanakert condemned the blockage as the latest manifestation of Azerbaijani efforts to depopulate Artsakh through “ethnic cleansing and genocide.” It said Baku’s actions violate the Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 2020 war in Artsakh.
The nearly 2,000 Russian troops were deployed in and around Artsakh as well as the Lachin corridor linking it to Armenia in line with that agreement.
The Russian peacekeepers and Armenia’s government did not immediately react to Saturday’s incident.
Tensions along the current Artsakh “line of contact” have steadily increased in the last two weeks, with the Azerbaijani military and the Artsakh Armenian forces regularly accusing each other of truce violations.
Also, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claimed last week that Armenia shipped weapons to Artsakh through the Lachin corridor. A senior Armenian official dismissed the allegations, saying that Baku is preparing the ground for a possible seizure of the Lachin corridor.
Source: Azatutyun.am
