Azerbaijan claims to have seized control of several elevated areas in the Lachin region

March 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Azerbaijani authorities have assured this Thursday that they have taken control of several areas in the Lachín region, specifically between the towns of Jazghazur and Zabuj, as well as the roads that are in this area, without Armenia having ruled on the moment.

The Azeri Ministry of Defense has indicated in a brief statement published on its website that “several elevated areas between the villages of Jaghazur and Zabuj, in the Lachin region, as well as main and secondary roads and large areas on the border, have been left under the control of units of the Azerbaijani Army”.

At the moment, no further details about the situation have been released, although the Armenian news agency Armenpress has indicated that the Azeri forces have cut the road that connects the Armenian city of Goris and Stepanakert – capital of the self-proclaimed region of Nagorno Karabagh, officially known as Artsakh–.

The cities of Lachin and Zabuj were returned to Azeri control in August 2022 as part of the 2020 ceasefire agreement, which ended the Second Nagorno Karabagh War –after the 1994 war–. The conflict ended in victory for Azerbaijan, which recovered territories taken by Armenia in the First Nagorno Karabakh War, including the important city of Shusha.

Since then, both countries have maintained various contacts to try to sign a peace agreement, although the talks have encountered various obstacles, including the situation around the Lachín corridor, which connects Armenia with the self-proclaimed republic of Arstaj. The area has the presence of Russian soldiers deployed as peacekeepers under the aforementioned ceasefire agreement.