Demonstrators blocked the road to the Russian military base, speaking under the slogan "Blackout in the name of unblocking".

They demand that the Russian contingent resume traffic along the Lachin Corridor in the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian name is Artsakh).

If the Russian peacekeepers do not take active actions, the demonstrators are ready to declare them "occupiers".

"We will show the whole world that Armenia, including Artsakh, was occupied by Russian troops represented by the 102nd base," said Vaz Gasparan, a member of the Council of the National Democratic Pole.

The Lachin Corridor is the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

According to the terms of the agreement signed after the end of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, the Lachin district came under the control of Baku, and the corridor came under the observation of Russian peacekeepers.

In mid-December, Azerbaijani activists blocked the road.

According to information from the Azerbaijani side, these are environmentalists who oppose, in their opinion, the illegal mining of natural resources in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh by the Armenian authorities.

  • Yerevan claims that after the closure of the road in the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh, supplies of food and vital goods have stopped, and the region is close to a humanitarian crisis.

    The head of the government of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, issued a statement in which he accused the Russian peacekeepers of inaction.

  • The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan previously stated that Yerevan deliberately misleads international partners in order to continue illegal activities on the territory of Azerbaijan.

  • The international community recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as a sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, but since the early 1990s, Baku has not controlled most of the region.

  • As a result of the short-term war, in the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the mediation of Russia, signed an agreement on the cessation of hostilities.

    Under the agreement, which sparked opposition protests in Yerevan, Baku regained control of a large part of the Nagorno-Karabakh territories occupied by Armenian forces in the early 1990s.

    Russian peacekeeping forces are stationed in the region.

  • According to the terms of the agreement, the Lachin district came under the control of Baku, and the corridor came under the observation of Russian peacekeepers.