YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Lawmakers in Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian-populated region of Azerbaijan, voted to elect a new separatist president on Saturday in a move that was strongly condemned by the Azerbaijani authorities.
Samvel Shakhramanyan has been elected as the new president of Nagorno-Karabakh following the resignation of Arayik Harutyunyan, who stepped down on September 1 as president of the region, known as Artsakh to Armenians. This move comes amidst heightened tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani authorities strongly condemned the election, considering it a gross violation of their country’s constitution and a serious setback to regional normalization efforts. They insist that peace and stability can only be achieved by the complete withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the disbandment of the separatist regime.
Since December, Azerbaijan has implemented a blockade on the only road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, leading to severe shortages of food, medical supplies, and other essentials for the region’s approximately 120,000 inhabitants.
Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated region within Azerbaijan, came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces supported by the Armenian military after a six-year separatist war that ended in 1994. Armenian forces also gained control over significant surrounding territory.
However, Azerbaijan regained control of the surrounding territory in a six-week war with Armenia in 2020. The conflict was resolved through a Russia-brokered armistice, leaving the region’s capital, Stepanakert, connected to Armenia solely by the Lachin Corridor, a single road monitored by Russian peacekeeping forces.
Armenia has repeatedly criticized the Russian peacekeepers for failing to lift the Azerbaijani blockade, leading to dire food shortages in Nagorno-Karabakh. This situation has strained relations between Moscow and Yerevan.
Although Russia has been Armenia’s main economic partner and ally since the Soviet collapse in 1991, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with Moscow’s lack of assistance in lifting the blockade. He believes that Armenia must seek support from the West to ensure its security.
To the dismay of Moscow, Armenia has engaged in joint military exercises with the United States, provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine during its conflict, and ratified a treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, which has indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes related to the deportation of children from Ukraine.
In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Armenian ambassador to protest these actions, considering them unfriendly.
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