Phone call between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and President Ilham Aliyev

On March 21, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken called President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. During the phone conversation, they discussed the situation around the Lachin-Khankendi road. The President emphasized that since December 12 of last year until today, more than 4700 vehicles, individuals in need of medical assistance and those accompanying them have crossed this road with the assistance of Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Therefore, any information about the supposed blockade of this road is misinformation spread by Armenia.

President Ilham Aliyev highlighted that Armenia’s use of the Lachin road’s alternative for illegal military transport, rotation of personnel in the temporarily occupied territories where Russian peacekeepers are stationed, and the presence of nearly 10,000 Armenian armed forces personnel still on Azerbaijani territory is a matter of serious concern. In this regard, the head of state particularly emphasized the necessity of establishing a border-crossing point at the last point of the border of Azerbaijan’s Lachin road with Armenia.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is fully committed to the peace agenda, is ready for the normalization of relations with Armenia and the signing of a peace agreement promptly, as well as Azerbaijan presented the text of the peace agreement with the latest proposals and amendments to the Armenian side. As a continuation of the meeting held in Munich, the head of state reminded that Azerbaijan is ready for contacts with the Armenian residents of Karabakh and in this regard they were invited to Baku by the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to continue contacts on reintegration and discuss infrastructure projects.