Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was ready to send troops to the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tensions between the two countries, but Yerevan’s tough stance has so far prevented that, Reuters reported.

Sergey LavrovPhoto: Oleksandr Zemlanychenko / AP – The Associated Press / Profimedia

Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have escalated in recent weeks due to the blockade of the only road that provides direct access from Armenia to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Wednesday, and they discussed steps to resume bilateral talks with Azerbaijan, the US State Department said.

Lavrov said Russia was still ready to send a mission to the region as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led military alliance that includes Armenia but not Azerbaijan.

But Yerevan’s earlier insistence to include a condemnation of Azerbaijan’s behavior has been thwarted.

“We had difficulties with the situation in Armenia, when our Armenian friends insisted on the need to send the CSTO mission to the border with Azerbaijan to ensure some stability,” Lavrov said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“We agreed on the document and the parameters of the mission… but it was not possible to adopt it because Armenia began to insist that the document contain a sharp condemnation of Azerbaijan,” he added.

Russia is an ally of Armenia, but also seeks good relations with Azerbaijan.

The latest conflict concerns the blocking of the Lachin Corridor, which connects Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh region, recognized by the international community as part of Azerbaijan, but controlled by its ethnic Armenian majority with the support of Armenians.

In a conversation with the Prime Minister of Armenia, Blinken “expressed deep concern over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor,” the State Department said in a statement.

Several Azerbaijanis, who call themselves environmental activists, have blocked the road for more than a month over what they say is a dispute over illegal mining in Armenia. Yerevan says these are agitators supported by the government.

The standoff is seen as a test of Russia’s ability to defuse hostilities in its backyard.