The President of Azerbaijan confirmed the return to control of the city of Lachin and the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, confirmed taking control of the city of Lachin and the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh. It was the only road that connected the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

He wrote about it on his Twitter.

"Today, August 26, we — Azerbaijanis — returned to the city of Lachin. The Azerbaijani army was stationed in the city of Lachin. The villages of Zabukh and Sus have been taken under control," Aliyev wrote.

The city of Lachin and neighboring villages have been controlled by Armenian troops since 1992 and were part of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh. The only road connecting Armenia with the capital of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Khankendi (Stepanakert) passed through these settlements. However, after the 2020 war, the Russian military established control over the Lachyn corridor. As part of the peace agreement, this road was supposed to come under the control of Azerbaijan. Instead, the Azerbaijanis promised to build a new road from Khankendi to Armenia — and in August 2022 they reported on the completion of construction.

On August 25, it became known that the Russian military began dismantling roadblocks in the Lachin corridor and moving them to a new road. Meanwhile, Armenian residents began to leave Lachin and neighboring villages en masse, they were promised temporary housing in Armenia. However, the territories that are still under the control of the unrecognized NKR are seriously worried about the transfer of the Lachin Corridor to Azerbaijan, as all communications, communications, and pipes, including the gas pipeline, passed through this road.

• On the night of November 10, 2020, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and Presidents of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Russiaʼs Putin signed a joint statement on ending the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which lasted for a month and a half (since September 27). The sides suffered significant losses — thousands of soldiers were killed and hundreds of civilians were wounded during the shelling of cities. In this war, Azerbaijan won 40% of the territory of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, including the city of Shusha.
• In July this year, Aliyev accused Russia and Armenia of violating the agreements that were spelled out in the declaration on the cessation of hostilities. Later, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Hryhoryan, promised to withdraw troops from Nagorno-Karabakh in September.