FRANCE CALLS TO UNBLOCK LACHIN CORRIDOR
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna urged Azerbaijan on Thursday (April 27) to remove a newly installed checkpoint on the road linking Armenia to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, on the first leg of a delicate trip to both countries, Reuters reports.
Her comments in Baku drew a sharp retort from her Azerbaijani counterpart that highlighted the sensitivities of her mission.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars in the past three decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians and run by a separatist administration.
Azerbaijan set up a new checkpoint on Sunday on the road to Karabakh, the Lachin corridor, in a move that Armenia called a gross violation of a 2020 ceasefire between the two countries and that has also drawn concern from the United States.
Colonna said there is a chance for peace between the two countries, “a chance to end this cycle of clashes between neighbors.” She also said France opposes the establishment of a checkpoint in Lachin Corridor.
Bayramov, in response, said that the Lachin road “is open for use by citizens, goods and vehicles”. “Azerbaijani side took steps to ensure control” ot the Lacin Corridor area, he insisted.
The appearance of the checkpoint marked a sharp escalation in a months-long blockade of Karabakh that began in December, when Azerbaijani civilians identifying themselves as environmental activists shut down the road to traffic.
Ethnic Armenians in Karabakh have complained of a humanitarian crisis, while Armenia itself has expressed mounting frustration with the failure of Russian peacekeepers to keep the road open. Russia said on Wednesday it had appointed a new head of its peacekeeping force.
Separately, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused France and the United States of trying to undermine Russia's traditional role as a mediator in the Karabakh conflict.
Colonna, who was heading later to Armenia, rejected a reporter's suggestion that France was biased against Azerbaijan, saying its only interest was to secure peace.
She said reopening the Lachin corridor was both a point of international law and a question of restoring trust between the two sides.
ERDOGAN AND PUTIN DISCUSSED REGIONAL ISSUES
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin virtually inaugurated Turkey's first nuclear power plant on Thursday (April 27), hailing wider economic ties between Ankara and Moscow, Reuters reports.
Russia's state nuclear energy company Rosatom built the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and Thursday's ceremony saw the first loading of nuclear fuel into the first power unit at the site in Turkey's southern Mersin province.
Erdogan thanked Putin for his support on Akkuyu and said Turkey has joined the league of countries with nuclear power after a 60-year delay.
Attending the ceremony in person, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi warned about the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine and urged world leaders to prevent any possible accidents.
Turkey is a NATO member but Erdogan has managed to maintain cordial relations with Putin despite the war in Ukraine. Last year, Turkey helped to broker, along with the United Nations, a deal that allowed the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports.
In a phone call before the ceremony at Akkuyu, Erdogan, and Putin also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Black Sea grain deal, the Turkish leader's office said.
Erdogan also joined Thursday's ceremony by videolink rather than traveling there due to poor health that forced him to cancel campaign rallies this week. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Erdogan was feeling better on Thursday.
Turkey faces landmark presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14.
NATO PROVIDED 1550 ARMORED VEHICLES AND 230 TANKS TO KYIV
More than 98% of the combat vehicles that NATO promised to Ukraine have already been delivered, the bloc’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, TASS reports.
"Overall, through the Contact Group led by the United States, NATO Allies and partners have provided unprecedented support to Ukraine. More than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine have already been delivered. That means over 1,550 armored vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, including vast amounts of ammunition. In total we have trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian armored brigades," he pointed out at a meeting with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel in Brussels.
According to Stoltenberg, NATO believes that providing as many weapons as possible to Kiev is the best way to facilitate peace in Ukraine because it will allow President Vladimir Zelensky’s regime to be in a strong negotiating position. However, the NATO chief warned against underestimating the Russian army, and claimed that Russia was sending thousands of troops to attack the city of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine).
Bettel, in turn, noted that Luxembourg did not have weapons to send to Ukraine, which was why it was making a financial contribution, paying for what Kyiv was asking for.
POPE MEETS UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER DENYS SHMYHAL
Pope Francis on Thursday (April 27) met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the Vatican.
After the visit, Shmyhal said he had invited Pope Francis to visit Ukraine and had discussed Kyiv's formula for peace as the country dealt with Russia's invasion.
Shmyhal also told a news conference in Italy that a phone call between the leaders of China and Ukraine on Wednesday had been very productive and could prove a very positive beginning for future relations.
IRAN DENIES WSJ REPORT OF SHIPPING AMMO TO RUSSIA
Iran’s foreign ministry has denied a report by The Wall Street Journal that Tehran has been shipping artillery shells and other ammunition to Russia, Iran International reports.
Spokesman of the ministry Naser Kanaani on Wednesday said, Iran is opposed to war and supports a ceasefire and peace in Ukraine.”
WSJ reported that Iran has shipped over 300,000 artillery shells and about a million rounds of ammunition to Russia using cargo ships in the Caspian Sea.
The report published on Monday stated that the weapons were delivered over the past six months, and then sent to the frontlines in Ukraine.
Officials in the Middle East have told the WSJ that the last shipment of weapons to Russia crossed the Caspian Sea aboard the 460-foot Russian cargo ship Rasul Gamzatov in early March. The company owning the vessel has already been sanctioned by the US.
US State Department spokesperson said Monday, “This is – the Russian Federation’s deepening of relations with the Iranian regime also continues to be something that is deeply concerning to us and something that we are continuing to pay close attention to. “
Last summer, Russia turned to Iran for help. Iran initially provided hundreds of kamikaze drones and agreed to provide more than 300,000 artillery shells.
Iran first denied it had supplied drones to Russia but in early November foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian admitted the deliveries, but claimed they were sent before the Russian invasion.
Several months ago, the United States and other allies of Ukraine said Tehran was ready to send ballistic missiles to Moscow. However, experts say this has not happened yet.
