The former head of the Government of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and former Russian businessman Rubén Vardanian was arrested yesterday when he tried to flee among the tens of thousands of Karabakh refugees who were leaving the South Caucasus region. When he arrived at the border, the Azerbaijani guards stopped him and arrested him.
The arrest of the former prime minister of the separatist region was confirmed by his wife. “This morning, my husband, Rubén Vardanian, philanthropist, businessman and former Minister of State of the Republic of Artsakh, was arrested and captured by the Azerbaijani authorities at the border, as he tried to leave Artsakh along with thousands of other Armenians ”, said Veronika Zenobend on Telegram. The border service of Azerbaijan reported that he had been transferred to the capital, Baku. Azerbaijan also arrested the former head of the Nagorno-Karabakh Security Council, Vitali Balassanian, at the border. The Azerbaijani army announced it on Telegram without giving further details.
Born in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, Vardanian was a well-known businessman in Russia, founder of the Troika investment bank. In September 2022, he announced his renunciation of Russian citizenship and moved to Nagorno-Karabakh. A month later, the president of the self-proclaimed republic, Araiik Harutiunian, proposed to him to head the Government. But the passage through politics was short. Last February they deposed him. The billionaire then said that it had been the result of differences with Harutiunian, although they were still united by a “common idea”. Despite leaving the Government, he decided to stay and continue working in the region.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a region internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but populated mostly by Armenians. As the Soviet Union disintegrated, it declared independence, leading to the first of two wars between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The adventure of the small state of 4,400 square kilometers ended last week, when on September 19 and 20 the Azerbaijani army launched a blitzkrieg operation that forced the separatist authorities to surrender. Azerbaijan has already held two meetings with Karabakh leaders to negotiate how to reintegrate the territory into its administrative system.
Vardanian and Balassanian are the first among current or former Karabakh leaders to be arrested. The arrests were the most prominent political incidents of the fourth day of the Karabakh exodus. It began on Sunday, when Azerbaijan, which took for granted the recovery of the region, opened the Lachin Corridor, the only passage that connects Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and which Baku forces have kept blocked since December 2022 .
After the victory of the military offensive, Baku promised “a change for the better” to the Armenians living in Karabakh, assured that it aims to “build a joint life on the basis of peace” and rejected accusations of “cleansing ethnic” made by the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Paixinian.
But tens of thousands of people believe that life will be better for them in the sister country. Television images yesterday still showed long queues of cars and trucks on the road that crosses the Latxín corridor. The distance between the capital of the region, Stepanakert, and the border is 77 kilometers, but it takes about 30 hours to cover the distance. A humanitarian center has been set up in this town of Kornidzor, already in Armenia. 50,243 refugees had arrived there until yesterday, according to data released by the Government of Armenia. This is more than a third of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was estimated at 120,000.
Western governments are trying to pressure the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to allow the arrival of international observers, because he fears a humanitarian disaster among the local population. “It would be a sign that Azerbaijan is serious about its commitments to the security and well-being of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
In the region is the head of the US Agency for Development, Samantha Power. After visiting Kornidzor, he went to Baku to discuss “the humanitarian situation” with Aliyev.
