Routes into Azerbaijan’s breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, including a key link known as the Lachin corridor,  remained blocked at the weekend despite a claimed deal between the two sides on humanitarian aid deliveries.

Tensions have been rising in the region as Armenia holds military exercises with US forces, Nagorno-Karabakh elects a new leadership, and Azerbaijan builds up its forces on the border,  which may have doomed the reported breakthrough on humanitarian aid shipments before it even began to be implemented.

Nagorno-Karabakh authorities have claimed a deal was struck on opening the border, but confirmation from Baku has so far been lacking.

“The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh (the self-designation of the ethnic Armenians in Karabakh), proceeding from the need to alleviate the acute humanitarian problems caused by the total blockade carried out by Azerbaijan, decided to allow the import of Russian cargoes to our republic through the town of Askeran. An agreement was reached to restore the transportation of humanitarian goods through the Lachin corridor through Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the statement by the authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh said, according to news.am website.

Under the reported deal, Azerbaijan has agreed to allow humanitarian aid through its blockade of the Lachin corridor to Armenia so long as the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities also allow the reopening of the route into Azerbaijan via Askeran. The Askeran route would be the first time  a transport link had been opened up from Azerbaijan since Nagorno-Karabakh broke away in the early 1990s, marking a symbolic victory for Baku.

However, currently, an ICRC truck is blocked near the Lachin border checkpoint on Armenian territory according to local Azerbaijani media. Baku has blocked Nagorno-Karabakh’s only route to the outside world since December 2022, causing severe hardship inside the territory.

“Although the Azerbaijani side is ready to ensure its passage across the border in accordance with the legislation of the country, the Armenians do not want to accept it. Because they know that if an ICRC truck passes through the Lachin border point, at the same time another truck with food must enter along the Aghdam road. To prevent this, the Armenians do not accept cargo along the Lachin road, dooming themselves to hunger,” the Azerbaijani website Report said.

A Russian Red Cross wagon is also currently halted in Barda, close to the Karabakh region, the local media reported. The truck with food and non-food items was sent in accordance with a memorandum of cooperation between the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society and the Russian Red Cross, initiated by the Russian government, in order to meet the needs of Armenians.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Two U.S. generals have arrived in Armenia to watch an ongoing U.S.-Armenian military exercise criticized by Russia and Iran.

Major General Gregory Anderson, the commander of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, and Brigadier General Patrick Ellis, a deputy chief of staff of the U.S. troops in Europe, joined Armenia’s top military officials on Friday in visiting one of the two training grounds where 85 U.S. and 175 Armenian soldiers are holding the Eagle Partner 2023 exercise.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said that Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Eduard Asryan, and the U.S. generals observed its “active phase.”

“Our ties with Armenia are multifaceted and cooperative,” the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan quoted Anderson as saying in a statement. “The U.S. has consistently extended military assistance to Armenia, especially in bolstering the nation’s capabilities in crucial areas such as nonproliferation and peacekeeping.”

Scenes from U.S.-Armenia joint military drill on Sept. 15

For her part, U.S. Ambassador Kristina Kvien described the 10-day drills as a “testament to our longstanding partnership with Armenia.” They will build upon “decades of successful peacekeeping and security cooperation” between the two countries, she said.

Asryan also attended their opening ceremony held on Monday. According to the Defense Ministry in Yerevan, the participating troops are simulating a joint peacekeeping operation in an imaginary conflict zone.

The ministry announced the drills last week amid Armenia’s unprecedented tensions with Russia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stoked the tensions with a newspaper interview in which he declared that his government is trying to “diversify our security policy” because Russia is “unwilling or unable” to protect Armenia.

Russia condemned Pashinyan’s remarks. The Russian Foreign Ministry listed them and the U.S.-Armenian drills among Yerevan’s “unfriendly” actions in a note of protest handed to the Armenian ambassador in Moscow on September 8.
Pashinyan essentially stood by his statement in another interview publicized late on Wednesday. Russia’s defense “capabilities have changed” as a result of the war in Ukraine, he told Politico.eu.

Pashinyan’s political allies as well as Western-funded civic groups have welcomed the apparent pro-Western shift in Armenia’s traditional foreign policy orientation. By contrast, Armenian opposition groups are seriously concerned about it. They say that the policy change is reckless because the United States and other Western powers will not give Armenia security guarantees or significant military aid.

The U.S.-Armenian exercise has also prompted concern from neighboring Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan on Wednesday that it could “further complicate the situation in the region.”

Hearings on Nagorno-Karabakh in the US Senate

“The United States will not tolerate any attempt at ethnic cleansing against Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, military action, or other atrocities, whether in the short or long term,” Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim said.

At a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Assessing the Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis,” Kim called on the Azerbaijani government to unblock the Lachin corridor.

According to political scientist Suren Surenyants, if the U.S. wants to play a decisive role in the current situation, it should take two steps: stop providing military aid to Azerbaijan and impose sanctions on Baku.

• “Neutrality of mediators encourages the party that uses force” – Pashinyan

• “Intense behind-the-scenes negotiations are underway.” Comment from Baku

“We keep saying that we need to open the Lachin corridor”

Yuri Kim: “We keep saying that we need to open the Lachin corridor for the movement of commercial, humanitarian transport and private cars.” She called on Baku to restore free movement along the Lachin corridor as soon as possible, but added:

“The U.S. recognizes the importance of additional routes. We must continue to encourage all sides to work constructively.”

Kim said the U.S. administration is concerned about the blockage of the Lachin corridor and its implications for NK Armenians. Reported that intensive work has been underway for several months to address the humanitarian crisis with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Louis Bono and USAID partners.

“Louis Bono is back in the region to push for the immediate delivery of supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh,” she said.

“We’ve got a few weeks.”

Senate Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Bob Menendez quoted part of a report by former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo that said, “Starvation is the invisible weapon of genocide. Without immediate drastic changes, this group of Armenians will be wiped out within weeks.” Menendez continued:

“Time is of the essence. President Aliyev says he is not organizing ethnic cleansing. But that is exactly what he is doing.”

According to the senator, Aliyev’s goal is to “force Armenians to submit or starve them into submission.” He appealed to the Biden administration to “eliminate the blockade, threats to the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, and immediately open the Lachin corridor.” He expressed hope that opportunities would be found to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and measures that could force Baku authorities to unblock the road connecting NK territory with Armenia.

“And why are we no longer publicly discussing sanctions for actions that I think we can all agree are clearly worthy of punishment,” he said.

Talking about the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks and the U.S. mediation of that dialog, he said:

“The reality is this: talk is useless when one side of these talks is engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.”

U.S. Senate Hearings

Commentary

Political scientist Suren Surenyants says that there is a decision of the Hague Court obliging Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin corridor, which Azerbaijan is ignoring:

“If no coercive measures are applied, the Senate hearings can be considered only as a gesture of moral support.”

He believes that holding these hearings is a very important step in itself, but “cannot have a significant impact on the situation”.

Asked “what is the reason for Western countries not applying sanctions against Baku – the common interest or Yerevan’s inaction,” he replied:

“There is a geopolitical consensus on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in general, despite the contradictions of all sides. Their disputes concern who should be the moderator of the region, but they have no serious disagreements on substantive issues.”

Surenyants says that when the Russian Federation sent humanitarian aid for Armenians under blockade via the Agdam route, i.e. through the territory of Azerbaijan, the European Union welcomed this step:

“Azerbaijan is a much more important partner than Armenia at the moment, both for the West and for Russia. I don’t think any country in the world will stand together with Armenia against Azerbaijan, especially because of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. I think such a scenario is impossible.”

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Hearings on Nagorno-Karabakh in the US Senate