It is located in the west of the country, belonging to the East Zangezur Economic Region.

[5][6] A small part of the district, excluding its capital, called the Lachin corridor is controlled by a Russian peacekeeping force.

[10][11][12] It was granted town status in 1923 and renamed Lachin (a Turkic first name meaning falcon) in 1926.

Mild warm and cold climate with dry winters prevails over most of the area.

The most spread soil types are sod mountainous-meadow, brown mountainous-forest and carbonate mountainous-black.

The vegetation comprises bushy and rare woods, deciduous mountain forests (oak, hornbeam, beech), sub-alpine and alpine meadows.

As part of an agreement that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War most of the district was returned to Azerbaijani control by 1 December 2020.

[5] This excludes the Lachin corridor which was controlled by Russian peacekeeping forces in accordance with the agreement.