Staff members from the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday visited the Armenian village of Kornidzor near the Lachin corridor, the only land route linking the country and Nagorno-Karabakh, the administration of the Syunik Region said
YEREVAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th August, 2023) Staff members from the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday visited the Armenian village of Kornidzor near the Lachin corridor, the only land route linking the country and Nagorno-Karabakh, the administration of the Syunik Region said.
"On the instructions of Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a delegation headed by committee staff Sarah Arkin and Damian Murphy arrived in Armenia ... Today, the delegation, accompanied by Syunik Governor Robert Ghukasyan, visited Kornidzor village," the administration said on social media.
Ghukasyan also briefed the officials on the situation that developed as a result of the blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan. US Senate committee representatives observed stranded Armenian trucks with humanitarian cargo, which are unable to reach the enclave's residents due to the blockade, the administration said.
On Monday, two UN special rapporteurs and an independent UN expert called on Azerbaijan to immediately lift the blockade of Lachin corridor, saying it has caused a "humanitarian emergency" in the disputed region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought wars over Armenian-populated and Azerbaijani-located Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s and 2020, with numerous smaller clashes in between. The 1.5-month war in 2020 ended with a Russia-mediated ceasefire and deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the region. Lachin Corridor runs next to a Russian peacekeeping post.
The lifeline through which food, medical essentials and humanitarian aid get to Nagorno-Karabakh through Armenia was blocked in 2022 by people described by Azerbaijan as climate activists protesting alleged Armenian mining in the region. On July 11, Azerbaijan's State Border Service suspended the Lachin checkpoint, citing an investigation into alleged smuggling of goods disguised as humanitarian aid.
