On July 18, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss many issues, especially the opening of the Lachin Corridor in the coming time.
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| Azerbaijan's border checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor since late April 2023. (Source: Radar Armenia) |
“I am grateful for the strong commitment of the European Union (EU) and the dialogue in Washington. Things are moving in the right direction and I hope that one day there will be a lasting peace agreement,” Schallenberg said after talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Vienna.
However, according to the Austrian Foreign Minister, there is “a humanitarian concern” about the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Mr. Schallenberg stressed: “This blockade must end”.
In late April, Azerbaijan's State Border Guard Service announced that it had established a border checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor - the only land route connecting Armenia and the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Citing Armenia's alleged illegal use of the road and security concerns, Azerbaijani officials said Russian peacekeepers and the Russian-Turkish monitoring center had been informed about the incident.
Meanwhile, Armenia strongly protested Baku's actions, saying the move violated the 2020 trilateral declaration.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a dispute over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region since 1988. Peace talks have been held since 1994, when a ceasefire was agreed, but sporadic clashes have occurred.
The decades-long conflict between the two countries flared up in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. A trilateral ceasefire declaration brokered by Russia was signed in November 2020.
Since then, the two former Soviet states have agreed to deploy Russian peacekeepers in the region. However, sporadic clashes along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border have continued.
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