US expert urges Blinken to action over Armenia's misuse of auxiliary road in Karabakh to smuggle weapons into Azerbaijan

On March 21, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a phone call to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss the latest situation around the Lachin road.

The Azerbaijani leader emphasized that it was a matter of serious concern that Armenia was using an auxiliary road to the Lachin road to carry out illegal military transports, rotation of personnel in Azerbaijani territories where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed, as well as the fact that about 10,000 servicemen of the Armenian armed forces are still stationed in the territory of Azerbaijan. In this regard, the president stressed the necessity of establishing a border checkpoint at the end of Azerbaijan's Lachin road on the border with Armenia.

In a comment on 10,000 servicemen of the Armenian armed forces in Armenia, US-based expert Peter Tase told Azernews that "inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, the presence of almost 10,000 Armenian soldiers, and heavy equipment, armored vehicles, and ammunition is a great regional security threat and embodies a constant menace to the commercial and economic policies of Europe and its trans-Atlantic partners".

The malignant leadership of Armenia continues to conduct ecocide inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan and the OSCE and other international actors remain silent about this military presence inside the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan. US State Secretary Antony Blinken must exert a significant force and use all tools of statecraft in order to contain Armenian revanchist policies and deter actions of Yerevan’s allies in the Southern Caucasus region that are currently serving as a peacekeeping force, the expert said.

Azerbaijan’s national security and territorial integrity are in harm's way and in growing peril due to the Armenian spirit of aggression. Yerevan’s troops are a matter of great concern; Armenia is using an auxiliary road to the Lachin road to carry out illegal military transports, and rotation of land forces personnel inside Azerbaijani territories where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed. The fact that about 10,000 servicemen of the Armenian armed forces are still stationed in the territory of Azerbaijan, is an act of aggression and blatant actions that imperil the economic integration of the European continent and threatens the transportation corridors in the Caucasus, which are indeed the lifeblood of Brussels’ economic and energy policies, Peter Tase added.

"There is a huge necessity for establishing a border checkpoint at the end of Azerbaijan's Lachin road on the border with Armenia, and International Community is silent and hesitant to act before this tragic situation," the expert believes.

The Armenian government has been recently abusing the presence of the European Union's mission in Azerbaijan to pursue a policy aimed at deliberately escalating the situation, by conducting repeated violations of the ceasefire by the Armenian armed forces along the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border and the illegal Armenian units in Azerbaijani territories where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed continue to be aggressive and using mortars and large caliber weapons against armed forces of Azerbaijan, the expert added.