The final bus carrying ethnic Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan completed its journey on Monday, as reported by Gegham Stepanyan, the human rights ombudsman for the region.
Azerbaijani forces have gained control of Nagorno-Karabakh from separatist groups, primarily consisting of ethnic Armenians, leading to an exodus of over 100,000 people in less than a week.
According to the Armenian government, approximately 100,514 residents out of an estimated 120,000 had crossed into Armenia by Monday.
Armenia is urging the European Union to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan for its military operation, with Tigran Balayan, the country’s envoy to Brussels, suggesting sanctions could include a price cap on Azerbaijani oil and gas, along with suspending EU discussions regarding closer relations with Baku. Balayan has also called upon Western nations to provide substantial security assistance to Armenia.
Armenia reported that an Azerbaijani attack in a border region resulted in the death of a soldier, underscoring the ongoing instability.
Moscow revealed that Russian peacekeepers and Azerbaijani forces were targeted by sniper fire on Monday. The Russian Defense Ministry stated, “A joint Russian-Azerbaijani patrol was shot at by an unknown person using a sniper weapon. There were no casualties.”
A United Nations team that arrived in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday expressed shock at the abrupt displacement of the local population and the suffering they must have endured. However, the team did not observe significant damage to civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, housing, or cultural and religious sites in the aftermath of recent fighting.
