Four Artsakh villages are in complete blockade because of installation of checkpoint by Azerbaijan
YEREVAN, April 25. /ARKA/. Residents of four villages in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) –Yeghtsahogh, Hin Shen, Mets Shen and Lisagor- have appeared in a complete blockade after Azerbaijan established a checkpoint at the start of the Lachin corridor, the only land route linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, Artsakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan said in a Facebook post. He said the villages are cut off from both Artsakh capital Stepanakert and Armenia.
"I am in touch with the administrations of these communities. Their leaders presented the problems that may arise in the coming days if the complete blockade continues. Before Azerbaijan established the checkpoint and blocked the road in this section, three children from the Mets Shen community, one of whom three years old, had been taken to Armenian Goris, and now they cannot return to their parents," Nersisyan wrote.
He said that the situation is similar in the Lisagor community: several residents of the community are in Armenia unable to return to their homes.
"I asked Russian peacekeeping forces to help us organize the movement of ambulances from these communities to Armenia and the return of our citizens," Nersisyan wrote.
The blockade of the road was condemned by USA, France, Canada, European Union, and some other international organizations.
“We reiterate that there should be free and open movement of people and commerce on the Lachin corridor and call on the parties to resume peace talks and refrain from provocations and hostile actions along the border,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Sunday in a statement.
France urged Baku to implement the decision of the International Court of Justice, which in February called on Azerbaijan “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor in both directions.”
The EU’s foreign affairs and security representative Josep Borrell said Azerbaijan’s decision of unilaterally installing a checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor contradicts EU’s call to reduce tension.
Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, said there was no alternative to the implementation of the Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements on normalziation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry called on Russia to “finally fulfil” its peacekeeping obligation by “eliminating the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor and ensuring the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from the entire security zone of the corridor”
The Azerbaijani checkpoint is situated on a bridge, just meters away from the Armenian border. The Lachin Corridor is policed exclusively by Russian peacekeepers. -0-
