Armenia files ICJ complaint against Azerbaijan over checkpoint on road to Karabakh

Armenia has appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over Azerbaijan’s installation of a checkpoint on the only road linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

The checkpoint on the road, known as the Lachin corridor, was set up on Sunday. The two countries have fought two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

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“A lawsuit has been filed with the International Court of Justice against Azerbaijan in connection with the illegal installation of a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor,” Interfax news agency quoted a spokesperson for Armenia’s international legal affairs representative as saying.

“These actions by Azerbaijan are a flagrant violation of a previous ruling of the International Court of Justice, which obliged Azerbaijan to ensure unimpeded movement through the Lachin corridor,” it said.

Azerbaijan established a checkpoint on the road last Sunday, saying the move was essential due to what it cast as Armenia’s use of the route to transport weapons.

The move prompted concern from Russia, which brokered a ceasefire agreement between the two countries in 2020, as well as from the United States.

Azerbaijan agreed in 2020 to “guarantee the security of persons, vehicles and cargo moving along the Lachin corridor in both directions.” Armenia says the establishment of a checkpoint at the start of the road violates these commitments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the Lachin corridor in a phone call on Wednesday, statements from both sides said, without specifying the outcome of the conversation.

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