Since April 23, 2023, Azerbaijan has set up an illegal checkpoint on the Artsakh-Armenia border (in the Lachin Corridor), as a result of which communities of the Shushi region in Artsakh have remained under complete blockade, being cut off both from Stepanakert and Armenia, Karabakh State Minister Gurgen Nersesyan said on Sunday, April 30.

“Since April 23, the humanitarian situation of the residents of Mets Shen, Hin Shen, Yeghtsahogh and Lisagor communities of Shushi region has worsened day by day. An attempt was made to supply food and medicine to these communities through the Artsakh office of the Red Cross, but these efforts were unsuccessful. With the support of Russian peacekeepers, three children stranded in the city of Goris were returned to their parents in the early days, while Azerbaijan hindered the return of the rest,” Nersesyan wrote on social media.

“In order to solve the urgent humanitarian problems of the residents of the villages under complete and two-way blockade, a group of residents turned to the Russian peacekeepers on site, who allowed them to pass through the checkpoint near the Hakari bridge in private vehicles without inspection, assuring in advance that there would be no supervisory intervention by the Azerbaijanis. Our citizens crossed the road unilaterally and without interruption with the support of peacekeepers, but due to the establishment of the checkpoint, they met Azerbaijanis at the checkpoint on the way back to their place of residence with their compatriots who had remained in Goris. The latter Azerbaijanis – Ed.), putting our citizens in a desperate situation, forced them to fulfill their demands, to film the process in order to show the next staging.

“This is another proof that the illegal Azerbaijani checkpoint hinders the uninterrupted movement of Artsakh citizens, vehicles and cargo, violating the 2020 the provisions of the tripartite declaration of November 9 and the decision of the UN International Court of Justice. The people of the Republic of Artsakh are waiting for the restoration of the regime defined by the Tripartite Declaration of the Lachin Corridor, a 5 km wide corridor exclusively under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces.”