Azerbaijan rejects accusations of Karabakh blockade

Azerbaijan on Thursday denied blocking the sole road linking its Armenian-populated separatist region with Armenia after Yerevan accused it of creating a humanitarian crisis in the mountainous enclave.

The arch-foe Caucasus neighbours, who went to war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in autumn 2020, have in recent days argued over the key road.

"Civilian transport can move freely in both directions" between Armenia and Karabakh, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hadjizadeh said.

"Azerbaijan is ready to ensure the humanitarian needs of Azerbaijan's (ethnic) Armenian population."

Azerbaijani activists have since Monday blocked the key road to protest what they claim is illegal mining causing environmental damage.

Baku claims the protest was spontaneous, but Yerevan has accused it of staging the demonstrations.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday denounced what he said was a "humanitarian crisis in Karabakh".

He said Baku had "blocked the Lachin corridor," referring to the sole land link between Armenia and the enclave that is being guarded by Russian peacekeepers.

An AFP correspondent saw Russian military transport moving on the road on Wednesday evening, but witnessed no civilian traffic from or to Armenia.

Armenia's parliament on Wednesday adopted a resolution accusing Azerbaijan of "cutting off Nagorno-Karabakh from the outside world."

It said people there had been "denied the right of free movement" and that the region was suffering from shortages of foodstuffs, medicines and fuel.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned that the "closure" of the Lachin corridor "has severe humanitarian implications and sets back the peace process" between the two countries.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war in autumn 2020.

The fighting claimed more than 6,500 lives and ended with a Russian-brokered truce that saw Yerevan cede territories it had controlled for decades.

Moscow stationed peacekeepers in the parts of Karabakh that remained under Armenian separatist control, including the Lachin corridor.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.