The U.S. and Russia have both made high-level contact with Armenian and Azerbaijani officials as the rhetoric from Baku is getting increasingly bellicose.
It was unclear on whose behalf the former secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was visiting, and what it portended for Armenia’s geopolitical orientation.
Five were killed in the shootout, which occurred four days after the most public meeting yet between Azerbaijani and Karabakhi Armenian representatives.
Armenians declared victory in the case, but Azerbaijan already denies that it is blockading the road to Karabakh and it's not clear how the ruling will be enforced.
Baku appears to be retreating from the grand vision of a corridor connecting the Turkic world for the sake of a more local strategic goal: cementing control over Karabakh.
Dependent on outside aid and braced for renewed clashes with Azerbaijan, there are fears Karabakh Armenians might soon be forced out of the breakaway region for good.
Kyiv has long taken a pro-Azerbaijan position vis-a-vis the conflict with Armenia. Now officials say that Armenia and Russia are using the blockade to try to steal attention from Ukraine.
Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor comes as it accuses Armenia of dragging its feet over the fate of another critical route, the would-be Zangezur Corridor.
Armenia says the plan amounts to a territorial claim, while domestic critics say it is meant as a nationalist distraction to the country’s real problems.
As the blockade continues into its second month, local authorities have begun issuing food coupons and announced rolling blackouts. A brief internet outage contributed to anxieties among the besieged population.
The row over Russian troops stationed in the country comes as Yerevan calls for Moscow to step in and prevent a worsening humanitarian crisis in the breakaway region.
Azerbaijan has long opposed reestablishing air transit to and from Karabakh, though, and argues that it is Armenians who are refusing its offers to allow traffic on the road to resume.