Britain To Authorize Arms Supplies To Armenia And Azerbaijan After 30 Years

• 14.10.2025, 18:01

London will upgrade the relationship with both countries to a "strategic partnership."

The UK will completely lift the arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan, which has been in place for more than 30 years, and raise the level of relations with both countries to a "strategic partnership." This was stated by British Deputy Foreign Secretary Steven Dowty.

"Given the significant progress made towards peace and the historic outcome of the recent summit in Washington, <...> Britain will lift the arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan completely," the diplomat said (quoted on the British Parliament's website).

In February 1992, the OSCE required all participating countries to impose an embargo on "all arms and ammunition supplies to forces fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh." However, this requirement has now lost its relevance, the statement of the deputy head of the British Foreign Office emphasized.

"This decision will allow the UK's cooperation with both Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue to develop, as well as to support efforts to protect their sovereignty and territorial integrity, including in response to hybrid threats from other states," the deputy head of the Kingdom's Foreign Office noted.

After a meeting at the White House on August 8, Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a bilateral peace agreement mediated by the United States. The document envisages the future signing and ratification of the peace treaty already initialed by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The latter consists of 17 points. In it, Yerevan and Baku pledged to hold talks to conclude an agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of their borders, as well as to establish diplomatic relations.