US ‘deeply concerned’ by Azerbaijan’s checkpoint on Lachin corridor bridge

The U.S. government said it is “deeply concerned” by Azerbaijan establishing a checkpoint on the only land route to the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, saying it undermines efforts toward peace in the region.
“The United States is deeply concerned that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Sunday.
The State Department urged free and open movement of people and commerce on the Lachin corridor and also called on the parties “to resume peace talks and refrain from provocations and hostile actions along the border.”
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians and it broke away from Baku in a war in the early 1990s.
Azerbaijan on Sunday said it had established a checkpoint on the road leading to Karabakh due to what it cast as Armenia’s use of the road to transport weapons, a step that was followed by claims of border shootings by both Azeri and Armenian forces.