Will Armenia turn away from Russia and adopt an explicitly pro-Western foreign and security policy, or will it only diversify its partners to reduce its dependence on Russia? Sossi Tatikyan explains.

In the absence of political will to exert pressure on Baku to accept necessary preconditions for the security and fundamental rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, any calls for their return will only serve to legitimize and whitewash the ethnic cleansing that Azerbaijan carried out.

The collapse of Artsakh is the failure of preventive diplomacy, the end of the human-rights-based liberal world governance system and can embolden other autocratic states to use force against small entities claiming self-determination to subjugate or eliminate them in other parts of the world.

If the international community fails to stop the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, it will serve as a dangerous precedent for the international order and members of the UN Security Council, including the mediators, will be deemed responsible for it.

After months of gradually deepening the blockade and experimenting with various methods of coercion to force Armenians out of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan seems to have found a slow-paced but high-impact weapon – deliberate starvation.

On July 29, Azerbaijani border services kidnapped and detained an elderly man who was being transferred from Artsakh to Armenia by the ICRC for medical treatment. Baku may now target and detain every male in Nagorno-Karabakh, writes Sossi Tatikyan.

What are Azerbaijan’s real intentions in relation to Nagorno-Karabakh? In this in-depth analysis, Sossi Tatikyan presents a number of similar scenarios, from the evacuation of Finnish Karelia during WWII to integration as a means of subjugating the people of Artsakh.

Azerbaijan’s threat of military aggression and ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh’s indigenous Armenian population remains extremely critical. If not prevented, it will constitute another major blow to the international order.

The EU civilian monitoring mission launched today is expected to be a deterrent to potential new Azerbaijani offensives through its political leverage and physical presence. Armenia must, however, restore its security and defense sector to defend its territory and people.

By blockading the Lachin Corridor and triggering a humanitarian crisis, Azerbaijan is employing hybrid warfare tactics against the Armenians. This operation is pursuing short-, mid- and long-term objectives. Sossi Tatikyan explains.