Violence has erupted once again along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border as Yerevan claims that Baku has imposed an illegal blockade on the Nagorno-Karabakh region. On September 1, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry alleged that Armenian troops had fired on Azerbaijani border positions, injuring a soldier. They also claimed that three soldiers were injured by an Armenian attack drone and vowed to retaliate. In response, Armenia’s defense ministry stated that two Armenian soldiers had been killed and another injured in cross-border shelling by Azerbaijan. They accused Azerbaijani forces of firing on Armenian border positions.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been a disputed territory since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenian forces captured most of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions, but in 2020, Azerbaijan with Turkish support regained control of the territories. A ceasefire agreement brokered by Moscow ended the six-week war, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border and the “Lachin Corridor,” which is Armenia’s only land route to Nagorno-Karabakh.
In recent months, Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of blocking the Lachin Corridor, leading to a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku denies these claims and accuses Armenia of using the corridor to bring troops and weapons into the region. Violent clashes have occurred near the Lachin Corridor, and Azerbaijan erected a military checkpoint to stop the flow of weapons. This issue was raised at a UN Security Council meeting in August, with Armenia calling it a blockade and genocide, and Azerbaijan claiming it was necessary to prevent illegal military activities.
Russia, which has good relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, called for urgent steps to de-escalate the situation and reopen the Lachin Corridor. Moscow’s deputy UN envoy stated that Russia was working to resolve the crisis and normalize relations between the two countries. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have ties with Russia, with Armenia being a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and Azerbaijan signing a political-military agreement shortly before Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2022.
The situation remains tense along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border, with violence flaring up intermittently. The conflicting claims and actions by both sides make it difficult to independently verify the situation.