The opposition party organized a 24-hour sit-in outside the Russian, U.S. and French embassies as well as the European Union mission almost two weeks after Baku halted the movement of humanitarian convoys through the Lachin corridor.
“Azerbaijan’s impunity has led to the fact that Artsakh (Karabakh) is cut off from the outside world,” one of the protesters said through a megaphone.
Russia and the EU have expressed serious concern over the further tightening of the blockade, which has aggravated the shortages of food, medicine and other essential items in Karabakh.
Organizers of the sit-in complained that such statements alone cannot force Baku to unblock the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. They demanded stronger action from the foreign powers and Russia in particular, which brokered a ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war and has peacekeeping troops in Karabakh.
“Russia needs to take much more practical steps because Azerbaijan’s brazenness is transcending all limits,” Gegham Manukian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader, told reporters.
“After all, it’s Russia that has the strongest political, diplomatic and military instruments in our region and brokered the November 9 [2020] agreement. Therefore, it’s Russia that must first and foremost take concrete steps to end the blockade,” said Anna Grigorian, another lawmaker representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance comprising Dashnaktsutyun.
Hayastan and other major opposition groups also blame the Armenian government for the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Karabakh. They say that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pledge to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the Armenian-populated region only emboldened Baku to step up the pressure on the Karabakh Armenians.