A truck carrying Russian humanitarian assistance to Artsakh has been stuck in the Azerbaijani city of Barda, after Artsakh authorities announced Saturday that they will allow only aid from Moscow to reach Stepanakert via Aghdam.
The truck has been stuck in the Azerbaijani city for two days and is unable to travel to Aghdam to make its delivery.
The Artsakh authorities succinctly said on Saturday that the Russian Red Cross assistance can enter Stepanakert via Aghdam in the event that the Lachin Corridor is opened simultaneously. Despite international calls, including the urging of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Azerbaijan is refusing to open the Lachin Corridor, which it has been blockading since December 12.
Azerbaijani authorities said that the delivery of Russian aid via Aghdam is a separate agreement and the sides must not confuse this with Baku’s insistence that both roads open simultaneously for the access of Azerbaijani trucks to Stepanakert from Aghdam.
While official Stepanakert has not commented on the Russian truck being stuck in Barda, Artsakh activist Artur Osipyan said that it is not beneficial for Baku to allow the delivery of the Russian aid, if Azerbaijan’s Red Crescent cannot deliver its own earmarked assistance—a factor rejected by Artsakh authorities.
“If Azerbaijan allows the humanitarian assistance from Russia’s Red Cross to enter Artsakh, that essentially becomes a new route for Moscow to provide assistance and this is not beneficial for Azerbaijan,” Osipyan told Azatutyun.am.
“As soon as any agreement is made that in some way will benefit us [the people of Artsakh], naturally, Azerbaijan, as it always has done, counters with a new set of conditions. This is how they have been advancing their negotiations for the past 30 year,” added Osipyan.
He conjectured that Azerbaijan wants to sabotage this process and use it as a basis for launching a new military offensive against Artsakh and Armenia.
“Right now, the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan is facing serious challenges,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Ayhan Hajizadeh said in a statement.
“The reason is the political and military provocations of Armenia, as well as its refusal to carry out preliminary agreements reached regarding the outcome of this situation. Allegations regarding the closure of Lachine road are baseless. Azerbaijan is allowing the delivery of medicine and other goods through the Red Cross,” Hajizadeh asserted.