Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has accused Azerbaijan of "ethnic cleansing" with its continued blockade of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
In a speech to parliament in Yerevan on June 16, Pashinian said Baku's installation of an illegal checkpoint in the Lachin Corridor and its ongoing blockade of the only road linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh were "actions that once again substantiate our fear that Azerbaijan is conducting a policy of ethnic cleansing."
"Even the supply of essential food to Nagorno-Karabakh has been stopped. In other words, food does not enter Nagorno-Karabakh from the outside world, and citizens in need of urgent medical assistance are not allowed to pass through the Lachin Corridor," he added, saying a meeting of foreign ministers from the two countries will be held in Washington next week.
In response, Azerbaijan rejected the allegation and said it had created conditions for the safe and efficient transit of ethnic Armenian residents in Nagorno-Karabakh, through the Lachin checkpoint.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left ethnic Armenians in control of the predominantly Armenian-populated region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.
Decades of internationally mediated talks failed to result in a diplomatic solution and the simmering conflict led to another war in 2020 in which nearly 7,000 soldiers were killed on both sides.
The six-week war in which Azerbaijan regained all the Armenian-controlled areas outside of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as chunks of territory inside the Soviet-era autonomous region ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to serve as peacekeepers.
In mid-December, Azerbaijani activists began obstructing the road known as the Lachin Corridor, which Pashinian said should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers.
Baku in April erected a checkpoint along the route, saying it was necessary to control the supply of arms being sent to the region and to end illegal mining operations. It said the road remained open to humanitarian aid, claims Yerevan disputes.
Both sides this week accused the other of "provocations."