Russia on Friday urged Azerbaijan to open access to Nagorno-Karabakh amid mounting concerns over a deepening humanitarian crisis in the breakaway region.
Karabakh residents reported new shortages of food and medicines after the International Committee of the Red Cross said Azerbaijan blocked access for aid convoys to the Armenian-populated region last week.
“We urge Baku to fully open traffic along the Lachin Corridor,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
She said Baku’s move violated Russian-brokered agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region and escalated tensions.
Moscow also urged Armenia to participate in trilateral talks.
Karabakh is at the center of a decades-long territorial dispute between enemies in the Caucasus.
A humanitarian crisis has gripped Karabakh since December, when Azerbaijani activists blocked a key road to protest illegal mining.
Azerbaijan insisted that civilian transport and aid convoys could pass through the Lachin corridor unhindered.
But on Monday, the Armenian Red Cross branch said it could no longer bring humanitarian supplies, including medicines, to the disputed area.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars for control of Karabakh, in the 1990s and again in 2020, when six weeks of fighting killed thousands.
The violence ended with a Russian-sponsored ceasefire that resulted in Armenia ceding parts of territories it had controlled for decades.
According to the ceasefire agreement, Azerbaijan must ensure safe passage through the corridor.
Armenia has repeatedly accused Moscow peacekeepers of failing to protect ethnic Armenians living in the breakaway region.