Ethnic Armenian authorities of Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh have agreed on procedures for two simultaneous routes of delivery of Russian-provided humanitarian aid, the International Committee of the Red Cross and separatist leaders said on September 17.
“In view of the ongoing security and disaster in the country, we decided to accept the joint proposal of the IRGC and the commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent," Karabakh rulers said in a statement.
Mediators in the dangerous regional conflict are also attempting to organize a meeting of representatives from Armenia and Azerbaijan “to soften the tense humanitarian and security situation," separatist sources told RFE/RL, without identifying the mediators.
Armenia, which backs the separatists, has accused Azerbaijan of blocking the Lachin Corridor -- the sole road linking Armenia to mainly ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh -- since December 2022, causing a humanitarian crisis in the mountainous region.
Azerbaijan has insisted that aid trucks should go through the town of Agdam, in Azerbaijani territory, to ensure no contraband was being shipped, and have blocked the Lachin route through Armenian territory.
Nagorno-Karabakh officials, however, have claimed it is an effort by Baku to control aid shipments and reestablish authority over the region away from ethnic Armenian leaders.
On September 12, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities agreed to allow Russian-provided aid to be delivered directly from Baku-controlled territory via the Agdam road, while in return Azerbaijani authorities agreed to allow simultaneous aid deliveries to the breakaway region through the Lachin Corridor.
However, lingering disputes have kept the Lachin route closed, with the latest agreement appearing to pave the way to open that path, although deals between the two sides over the years have often eventually broken down.
U.S. and European leaders have called for Azerbaijan to ease the transit of humanitarian aid to the beleaguered region, which is experiencing shortages of food, energy, and medicine.
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.