The International Court of Justice in The Hague demanded to unblock the Lachinsky Corridor

The UN International Court of Justice in The Hague on Wednesday issued a decision obliging Azerbaijan to ensure uninterrupted traffic along the Lachin corridor. The corridor is the only route connecting Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian name – Artsakh) with Armenia. It has been closed since mid-December, which has led to a significant deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The session of the court in The Hague was devoted to the claim of Armenia on the application of a security measure against Azerbaijan and, at the same time, the same claim of Azerbaijan against Armenia. The court decided not to consider the lawsuit of Azerbaijan against Armenia. Armenia’s claim will be satisfied as far as the unblocking of the Lachinsky corridor is concerned. However, the court rejected Armenia’s requests to restore the supply of natural gas to the region: according to the judges, the Armenian side did not provide sufficient data that Azerbaijan is preventing the supply of gas.

The Lachin Corridor is the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. According to the terms of the agreement signed after the end of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, the Lachin district came under the control of Baku, and the corridor came under the supervision of Russian peacekeepers.

In mid-December, Azerbaijani activists blocked the road. According to the Azerbaijani side, these are ecologists who oppose, in their opinion, illegal extraction of natural resources in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by the Armenian authorities.

Yerevan asserts that after the closure of the road in the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh, supplies of food and vital goods have stopped, the region is close to a humanitarian crisis. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan issued a statement accusing Russian peacekeepers of inaction.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan previously stated that Yerevan is deliberately misleading international partners in order to continue illegal activities on the territory of Azerbaijan.

• According to international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is considered part of the territory of Azerbaijan, but the population of the region is mainly ethnic Armenians. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Baku has not controlled most of Karabakh.
• As a result of the short-term war, in the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the mediation of Russia, signed an agreement on the cessation of hostilities. According to the agreement, which provoked opposition protests in Yerevan, Baku returned to control a significant part of the territories of Karabakh occupied by Armenian troops in the early 1990s. Russian peacekeeping forces are stationed in the region.