UK lifts arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan following peace progress

The United Kingdom has lifted its arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan, citing historic progress in the peace process between the two nations following a US-brokered summit that resulted in the initialling of a formal peace agreement.

A notice published by the Export Control Joint Unit stated that the embargo ceased to be in force as of 13 October, with the UK government concluding that the rationale underpinning the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s 1992 recommended arms embargo ‘no longer applies’.

‘This decision will enable the UK’s security and defence partnerships with both Armenia and Azerbaijan to evolve in a rapidly changing context,’ said Minister of State for Europe Stephen Doughty. 

The decision follows a trilateral peace summit hosted by US President Donald Trump in Washington in August that brought together Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The summit resulted in the initialling of a peace agreement and a joint declaration that included an appeal to dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group, the diplomatic body created to mediate the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The UK arms embargo had covered weapons, ammunition and munitions that might be used on the land border between the nations by military, police, security forces and related government entities.

All export and trade licence applications for Armenia and Azerbaijan will continue to be assessed case-by-case against the UK Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, with Doughty saying the government ‘will not issue any licence where to do so would be inconsistent with any of the Criteria’.

The UK government has upgraded its bilateral relationships with both Armenia and Azerbaijan to Strategic Partnerships, formalising cooperation in trade, security and defence, underpinned by annual ministerial-level meetings. Doughty visited both countries in August to discuss how the UK could support long-term peace prospects.

The embargo was introduced in 1992 under OSCE auspices during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, restricting exports of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment that could fuel the conflict. While active fighting ended in September 2023, the agreement signed at the White House in August 2025 formalised the peace and normalised relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh is now fully under Azerbaijani control, with its ethnic Armenian population displaced and its separatist government dissolved. It was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but was controlled by ethnic Armenian forces from 1994 to 2020, with Armenia backing its separatist government.