Such medical evacuations were carried out until this month by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC stopped them on April 29 six days after Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor, further tightening its blockade of the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
According to Karabakh authorities, Baku wants to impose passport controls on Karabakh patients and Red Cross staff passing through the corridor.
The authorities said that because of “the obstacles created by the Azerbaijani side” they asked the Russian peacekeepers to “transfer patients in urgent need to Armenian medical institutions in order to save their lives.”
Twenty-one other Karabakh patients are now awaiting evacuation, the health ministry in Stepanakert said, adding that Karabakh doctors are “taking every possible measure to prevent further deterioration of their health.”
Azerbaijan claims that its checkpoint was set up to stop the transfer of weapons from Armenia to Karabakh.
The Armenian side has strongly denied any arms supplies and accused Baku of another gross violation of a Russian-brokered agreement that stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Russia and the United States have also criticized Baku’s move.