REUTERS/Artem Mikryukov/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsTBILISI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Hikmet Hajiev, a foreign policy advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, on Saturday denied that Baku had reached a deal with the breakaway province of Nagorno-Karabakh to simultaneously reopen roads to Azerbaijan and Armenia. Hajiev said that Azerbaijan would maintain "border and customs" control on the Lachin corridor, which links Karabakh to Armenia. He said that the road to Azerbaijan would open for aid shipments for the first time since 1988, a key demand of Baku's. In December 2022, Azerbaijani civilians began blockading the last road linking Karabakh to Armenia, causing acute shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Armenian state news agency Armenpress reported on Saturday that Karabakh officials had bowed to Baku's demands to reopen the long-closed road to Azerbaijan in return for lifting the blockade on the Lachin corridor.

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Persons: Artem Mikryukov, Ilham Aliyev, Hajiev, Armenpress, Felix Light, Guy Faulconbridge Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Saturday, Karabakh, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Taghavard, Nagorno, Karabakh, Rights TBILISI, Baku, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Baku's, Soviet Union, Tbilisi, Nailia