On October 13, Stephen Doughty, the UK Minister of State, announced that the United Kingdom had lifted its long-standing arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan, citing improved relations between the two countries and continued support for regional peace.

In his statement, Doughty emphasized that the decision aimed to "elevate bilateral relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan to a strategic partnership" and to strengthen both nations’ sovereignty and territorial integrity against "hybrid threats." He recalled that the arms embargo, introduced in 1992 under the OSCE framework, was imposed during the height of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to prevent "all deliveries of weapons and munitions to forces engaged in combat in the Nagorno-Karabakh area." However, he stated that the original rationale for maintaining the embargo had "fallen away."

According to Doughty, the lifting of the restrictions would allow the UK’s security and defence partnerships with both Armenia and Azerbaijan "to evolve in a rapidly changing context," enabling London to support the two countries in protecting their sovereignty and territorial integrity “in response to conventional and hybrid threats from other states and non-state actors.”