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The United States will remain deeply engaged on the situation in the Lachin corridor, the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, where Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint on Sunday, Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday.

“This issue in the South Caucasus is something that the Secretary himself deeply values and places a lot of importance on,” he told a press briefing.

“And as you saw us say over the weekend, the department is deeply concerned about the establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor. Frankly, Alex, it undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process, and we are of the viewpoint that there should be free and open movement of people and commerce on the Lachin corridor. But Senior Advisor Bono, Assistant Secretary Hogan, the Secretary – we’re going to continue to remain deeply engaged on this,” Patel stated.

In a press statement on Sunday, Patel said the U.S. was “deeply concerned that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process.”

"We reiterate that there should be free and open movement of people and commerce on the Lachin corridor and call on the parties to resume peace talks and refrain from provocations and hostile actions along the border,” the statement read.