Azeri-Armenian Ties Escalate Amid Trial of Ex-Head of Breakaway Territory

The case of Armenian businessman and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan is politically motivated as there is no criminal offense against him, Russian journalist and rights activist Eva Merkacheva says. She also points out that:

Vardanyan's trial is, in fact, the trial of the Armenian people.

The Azerbaijani side persistently tries to link Vardanyan to combatants of the Karabakh war despite the fact that he is a civilian and was not involved in hostilities on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Unlike official Yerevan discourse, Vardanyan has repeatedly called for close cooperation between Russia and Armenia.

He was one of the few who understood the importance of Russian peacekeepers’ presence in the conflict zone.

The trial of former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, including Vardanyan, is currently underway in Azerbaijan, where they are accused of committing war crimes. They were detained while trying to enter the country in September 2023.

At the time, the latest elected leader of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan officially dropped all claims to independence from Azerbaijan, announcing that the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh will officially cease to exist on January 1, 2024.