Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned on Friday of a new war between his country and Azerbaijan, which are vying for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, if a peace treaty is not concluded between the two countries.

Pashinyan said in an interview with AFP that it was "of course very likely that a new war would break out with Azerbaijan" if a peace treaty was not concluded and ratified by the parliaments of the two countries.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars for control of Karabakh, the last of which was in 2020 and resulted in an Armenian defeat and Azerbaijan's territorial gains, ending with a fragile ceasefire.

Tensions re-escalated in early July after Azerbaijan blocked traffic through the Lachin Corridor, the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

Pashinyan accused the Azerbaijani military of making Nagorno-Karabakh an "isolated area" and said, "This is not a genocide in preparation, but an ongoing genocide."

Russia had pledged to deploy troops to ensure freedom of movement between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting Armenia to Karabakh, but Azerbaijan closed the corridor, accusing the Armenian Red Cross of carrying out "smuggling" operations.


Failure of negotiations

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting in Brussels on Saturday under the auspices of European Council President Charles Michel for a new round of negotiations to resolve the ongoing dispute between the two countries.

With the latest round of peace talks held on July 15 in Brussels failing to produce a breakthrough, Pashinyan called on the West and Russia to put more pressure on Baku to lift the blockade.

Azerbaijan has accused Russia of failing to fulfill its obligations under the 2020 Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal to end the war around Karabakh.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that "the Russian side did not secure the full implementation of the agreement within the framework of its obligations," saying that Moscow "did nothing to prevent" Armenia from delivering military equipment to troops in the region.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, has been witnessing a conflict between Baku and Yerevan for two decades. The two neighboring countries have fought two wars over this mountainous region.

In the fall of 2020, Moscow sponsored a ceasefire agreement following a six-week war that led to the defeat of Armenian forces.