Eurasianet

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.

A statement by the Foreign Ministry alluded to a potential confrontation with Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh and Russian border guards in Armenia.

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.

Armenia sees the new EU mission as a force for peace and security, but there is no buy-in from Azerbaijan or Russia.

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.

Is Ruben Vardanyan the savior of a nation, a Russian agent, or a billionaire with delusions of grandeur who is now in over his head?

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.

In his first remarks about the monthlong blockade, Aliyev denied there was a blockade, pointing to Russian peacekeeping vehicles’ use of the road.

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.

Many Armenians are wary of restoring ties with a traditional archrival.

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.

In the wake of the reported diplomatic breakdown, accounts have varied over how much credit – or blame – to assign to Azerbaijan, Russia, and France.

With Azerbaijani demonstrators settling in for the long haul on the Lachin Corridor, Armenia is questioning whether Moscow is willing or able to end the standoff.

Vasif Talibov, “khan” of “Azerbaijan’s North Korea,” has long been accused of exercising his totalitarian impulses.

Azerbaijanis promise that Armenians can pass along the road. But for Armenians, the conditions are politically unacceptable.

The closure of the Lachin Corridor a week ago has left the region struggling to secure enough food, medicine and fuel.

The territory has imposed price controls and rationing, and Azerbaijan has demanded that it be allowed to set up border and customs checkpoints on the road connecting it to Armenia.

The ongoing blockade has exposed the vagueness of the peacekeepers’ mandate, an uncertainty Baku is seeking to exploit.

Residents of the territory reported disrupted deliveries of food and heating gas, and hundreds blocked from returning home, as the numbers of Azerbaijani protesters on the scene grew.

The blockade appears to be part of an increasing pressure campaign on the road and the Armenians who depend on it, and the protesters appeared to be ready to stay.

Baku is doubling down on claims Armenia is transporting weapons along the only road in or out of the region; Yerevan says the Azerbaijanis are faking the evidence.

Some Azerbaijanis cheered their representatives standing up to a Russian presence they consider pro-Armenian. Others, though, pointed out the hypocrisy.

A dispute ostensibly over gold mining and military hardware saw cars held up on the Lachin Corridor for several hours as Russian peacekeepers held talks with both sides