A convoy of 19 Armenian trucks carrying emergency food aid to Nagorno-Karabakh remains blocked at an Azerbaijan checkpoint, where it has been waiting for approval to access the Lachin Corridor for three days.
The corridor is the only route linking Armenia with the breakaway region, and has been blocked by Baku for more than seven months. Armenia on July 28 vowed not to turn back the convoy, with Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian saying that although "there are no positive developments at the moment," the vehicles will continue to stay there "as long as necessary."
The Armenian government said on July 25 that it would try to send 360 tons of flour, cooking oil, sugar, and other basic foodstuffs to Nagorno-Karabakh to alleviate severe food shortages there caused by the blockade.
The trucks reached the entrance to the Lachin Corridor late on July 26 but remained stranded there in the following hours, with Baku refusing to let them though an Azerbaijani checkpoint set up there in April.
"We will try to ensure the opening of the Lachin Corridor through all the political means available to us. The trucks will continue to stay here at the moment," Kostanian told the media in front of the convoy.
He was accompanied by representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organizations accredited in Armenia.
Armenian officials had expressed hope that Russian peacekeepers would escort the relief supplies.
But Vardan Sargsian, a representative of the Nagorno-Karabakh separatists, told the media late on July 27 that no progress has been made and that the Russian side has not responded yet to the request.
Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis: Last-Ditch Armenian Aid Effort Blocked By Azerbaijan
In a statement on July 26, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned the aid convoy as a “provocation” and said it was an attack on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the attempted delivery of the humanitarian aid.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the situation that Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are currently facing,” Pashinian wrote on Twitter.
“The 360 tons of vitally important foodstuff sent to Nagorno-Karabakh is exclusively for humanitarian purposes.”
Tensions have been high over the situation on the Lachin Corridor.
Azerbaijan earlier this month suspended traffic through a checkpoint on the corridor pending an investigation after it said "various types of contraband" had been discovered in the Red Cross vehicles coming from Armenia.
The suspension of traffic heightened concerns over a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Both Armenia and separatist authorities in the enclave have said that Azerbaijan has blockaded the territory since December, resulting in shortages of food, medicines, and energy.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian-populated mountainous enclave that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. The most recent war lasted six weeks in late 2020 and left 7,000 soldiers dead on both sides.
As a result of the war, Azerbaijan regained control over a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts. The war ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to serve as peacekeepers.