For the first time in 35 years, vehicles from Russia delivering aid to the ethnically-Armenian exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh have crossed into the Lachin Corridor Tuesday (September 12).
The move was a risk for Armenia, which once had a land bridge to the region prior to the war with Azerbaijan back in 2020, as it could mean the absorption of Nagorno-Karabakh into the latter country.
Since the war, Russian forces patrolled the corridor until it was forced to withdraw to compensate for the war in Ukraine.
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Russians to the Rescue
The blockade of the Lachin Corridor began in December 2022 after officials in Baku alleged Armenians were using the pass to ship arms in and smuggle minerals out, German broadcaster DW reported.
Since then, the people of the exclave have been severely hit with supply shortages, which forced Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani authorities to settle an agreement allowing aid to be funneled through from Azerbaijani-held areas and into the exclave's capital, Stepanakert.
"We regard the fact that the cargo was delivered precisely along the...road as a positive step and an important shift towards the opening of this road," Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizade said as quoted by the Associated Press.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nagorno-Karabakh officials had also stipulated that Azerbaijan should reopen the Lachin corridor.
While many speculated the agreement would be effective immediately, the Kremlin announced that the shipment of aid to the beleaguered region represented a "first step" to resolving the crisis, with Russian foreign ministry officials hoping the corridor would be unblocked "in the near future."
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