Azerbaijan closes key road link to Karabakh region

Azerbaijan on Tuesday (July 11) temporarily shut the only road which links its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia. Azerbaijan has accused Armenian branch of the Red Cross of smuggling.

The region has been at the centre of the dispute between the two Caucasus countries. They have fought two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.  

The closure of the road has come ahead of the European Union-mediated talks between the ex-Soviet countries.

"The passage through Lachin checkpoint of the state border is temporarily suspended" pending an investigation into the Red Cross using its medical vehicles for "smuggling", Azerbaijan's state border service said on Tuesday.

Azerbaijan said that the decision was taken after the Red Cross failed to "take necessary steps to prevent illegal actions" like smuggling mobile phones from Armenia to Karabakh. Azerbaijan is accusing that this 'smuggling' is taking place using the organisation's medical vehicles.

Armenia has urged international action and has called closure of road being part of Azerbaijan's policy of "ethnic cleansing".

"More international efforts and actions needed to lift" the Karabakh blockade and "to prevent ethnic cleansing," foreign ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalyan said in an English-language Twitter post.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has denied Baku's claims. It has said that "no unauthorised material has been found in any vehicle belonging to ICRC." 

"However, we regret that without our knowledge four hired drivers tried to transport some commercial goods in their own vehicles which were temporarily displaying the ICRC emblem," it added in a statement.

The border point at the entrance to the Lachin corridor was set up by Azerbaijan in April. This had exacerbated allegations from Armenia of a Karabakh "blockade".

Armenian branch of the Red Cross said late last month that Azerbaijan was impeding access to Karabakh.

Azerbaijan's state border service said several days later that traffic through the Lachin corridor -- policed by Russian peacekeepers -- was resumed.

The latest developments followed a months-long blockade by Azerbaijani environmental activists, which Yerevan claims spurred a humanitarian crisis and food and fuel shortages.

Azerbaijan insisted at the time that civilian transport could go unimpeded through the Lachin corridor.

Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister said last month that the "humanitarian situation in Karabakh has worsened dramatically".

"Food supplies to Karabakh have practically ceased and patients are not being allowed to be taken to hospitals in Armenia for medical treatment," he said.

Baku's "actions prove that Azerbaijan is pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing in Karabakh," he added.