Azerbaijan lifts Armenia border restrictions, but hurdles to peace remain

An Armenian resident of Nagorno-Karabakh drives past Russian peacekeepers after being checked by Azerbaijani border guards at the Lachin checkpoint on the road to Armenia in October 2023. Border routes like this are now reopening to cargo traffic for the first time in decades. AP - Aziz Karimov

Azerbaijan has lifted restrictions on cargo transit to Armenia, marking a significant step forward in the fragile peace between the two countries after decades of conflict, but the territorial dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh remains a barrier.

President Ilham Aliyev announced the change during a visit to Kazakhstan, pointing to a shipment of Kazakh grain travelling through Azerbaijan to Armenia – the first such transit since cargo limits were imposed in the late Soviet era.