Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan questioned the role of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh in a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Azerbaijani activists have blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only road linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, since mid-December. Activists are protesting the mine, which they consider illegal and harmful to the environment.
As a result of the roadblock, Nagorno-Karabakh, home to some 120,000 people, is running out of food, medicine and fuel.
Baku says the protests started spontaneously, but Yerevan has accused Baku of organizing the demonstrations with the aim of persuading Armenians to leave Nagorno-Karabakh.
Meeting with Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit in St. Petersburg, Pashinyan said he wanted to discuss the crisis and possible ways to resolve it.
“It is the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers,” Armenia’s prime minister said, stressing that contrary to the terms of the agreement, “the Lachin Corridor is not controlled by the Russian peacekeepers.”
In September 2020, hostilities broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, inhabited mainly by Armenians, in which some 6,500 people lost their lives.
The hostilities lasted six weeks and ended on November 9, 2020, when Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the support of Russia, concluded a ceasefire agreement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which many in Armenia consider a capitulation.
Under the deal, the Armenians lost part of the central territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as all districts of the security buffer zone, which had been under Armenian control since the 1990s.
The agreement also provided for the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Since the beginning of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Armenia has repeatedly accused Russian peacekeepers of not completing their mission in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Putin told reporters that resolving tensions in the South Caucasus is a key issue. He said leaders began discussing the matter on Monday evening but did not provide further details.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also attended the regional summit in St. Petersburg.
