Bergkarabach

Officials in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh said a Russian truck carrying humanitarian aid arrived on September 12 in the region via territory controlled by Azerbaijan, the first time such a crossing has been allowed in more than three decades.

Armenia and the United States have begun joint military exercises that have angered Moscow and come as tensions rise between Yerevan and neighboring Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The deployment of even unarmed civilian observers marks an unprecedented Western intervention in a country where Russia has traditionally been the dominant security provider and, despite recent setbacks, still sees itself as the primary power broker. 

Four Armenian soldiers have been killed after Azerbaijani shelling near the border town of Sotk, northwest of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh according to Armenia’s Ministry of Defence. … Meanwhile, Azerbaijan said that Armenia had struck positions in the Kalbajar region using drones, wounding three Azerbaijani servicemen.

Macron told a conference of French ambassadors in Paris that he would hold talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the coming days.

Delivering a briefing on the latest situation there, the Director of Operations and Advocacy for humanitarian affairs coordination office, OCHA, made clear that the UN was unable to independently verify information on the movement of people and goods along the corridor “or on the well-being of civilians in the areas where Russian peacekeepers have been deployed.”

EU monitors in Armenia have said they were present when shots were fired near the Azerbaijani border on Tuesday (15 August).

A group of United Nations experts have voiced alarm over the ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan, which they say has led to a dire humanitarian crisis in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The corridor is the only link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and it has been blocked for months by Azerbaijan.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has reaffirmed in a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Miyrzoyan the bloc's support for the reopening of the Lachin Corridor, the only link between Armenia and the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been blocked for months by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has refused to allow through the Lachin Corridor a convoy of trucks that Armenia said were delivering emergency food aid to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.