The United Sates National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday urged Baku to restore free movement through the Lachin Corridor, which has been blockaded for 12 days by a group of Azerbaijani posing as environmental activists who are being fully backed by their government.
“Mr. Sullivan noted our ongoing concern over impeded access to the Lachin Corridor and the growing humanitarian implications of this situation, and called for full restoration of free movement through the corridor,” a White House announcement regarding the U.S. Security Chief’s talks with Yerevan and Baku said on Friday.
The announcement said that Sullivan held separate discussions with Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan and Azerbaijan’s presidential adviser Hikmet Hajiyev.
“In these calls, they took stock of the progress made in EU and U.S.-facilitated peace talks since their joint September 27 meeting in Washington. All affirmed their commitment to negotiations with the goal of finalizing a peace agreement. Mr. Sullivan urged both sides to consider steps that will ease tensions and serve as the basis of good neighborly relations in the future,” the White House statement said.
Sullivan hosted Grigoryan and Hajiyev in Washington in September. Days after that meeting the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan held talks in Prague mediated by the European Council President Charles Michel and President Emanual Macron of France.
On Friday, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held telephone conversations with the French and American co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Brice Roquefeuil and Philip Reeker.
According to Armenia’s Foreign Ministry during both calls, Mirzoyan briefed the diplomats about the current situation in the region following Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, saying Baku’s actions were designed to create a humanitarian crisis and subject the Armenians of Artsakh to ethnic cleansing.
Mirzoyan also emphasized to Reeker that Azerbaijan is violating its obligations under the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020 and is also grossly violating international humanitarian law.
Mirzoyan emphasized to Roquefeuil that “the international community should take active steps to force Azerbaijan to fully respect the provisions of the tripartite declaration of November 9, 2020 and unconditionally unblock the Lachin Corridor, removing all obstacles to safe and unhindered transport communication.”
Mirzoyan emphasized the need for a fact-finding mission to Artsakh and the Lachin Corridor in order to assess for relevant UN bodies the humanitarian situation, as well as provide unhindered humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said on Friday that the Lachin Corridor blockade followed the same pattern of provocation against the civilian population of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, adding that it was pre-mediated.