US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the weekend, expressing American support for the peace process and calling for the reopening of a vital road to a disputed territory.

For decades, the two neighbors have been in a deadlock, fighting two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Tens of thousands of people have died in this conflict.

Blinken spoke with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and emphasized the importance of reopening the Lachin corridor, the only land link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

A US State Department statement said that Blinken asserted to Aliyev US's concern that "Azerbaijan's establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process," stressing the importance of reopening the corridor to "commercial and private vehicles as soon as possible."

Armenia decries Lachin corridor checkpoint

Blinken also spoke with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, reiterating the importance of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace discussions and promising continued US support.

Armenia had objected to Azerbaijan's establishing a checkpoint at the corridor's entry, calling it a violation of the 2020 cease-fire.

In 2020, Moscow brokered a cease-fire and posted peacekeepers along the Lachin corridor, but the US and the EU have sought to facilitate a thaw in ties since Russia is preoccupied with Ukraine and does not want to upset Turkey, Azerbaijan's main ally.

ss/fb (AFP, Reuters)