The aid was supplied by the Russian Red Cross via the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam. But the Lachin road, connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, remains closed.
The arrest sets a chilling precedent, as most of the adult male population of the region has either fought against Azerbaijan or served in the local army, which Baku calls an "illegal armed formation."
The de facto president and other officials are camped out in tents in Stepanakert's central square demanding that Armenia and Russia take action to end Azerbaijan's blockade.
Azerbaijan shut down all traffic between Nagorno-Karabakh and the outside world on June 15, exacerbating shortages and preventing patients from seeking urgent medical care.
Roughly a month after Azerbaijan installed a border post on the Lachin corridor, a small but growing number of Karabakh Armenians are using the route. But there is still strong social pressure against doing so.
The region's already meager electricity generation capacity is in jeopardy, and an "environmental disaster" could be at hand, the local de facto authorities say.
Armenia has long been on a trajectory of recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, but the prime minister's explicit statement still triggered shock and outrage.
As the blockade continues into its second month, local authorities have begun issuing food coupons and announced rolling blackouts. A brief internet outage contributed to anxieties among the besieged population.
The territory has imposed price controls and rationing, and Azerbaijan has demanded that it be allowed to set up border and customs checkpoints on the road connecting it to Armenia.
Residents of the territory reported disrupted deliveries of food and heating gas, and hundreds blocked from returning home, as the numbers of Azerbaijani protesters on the scene grew.
The blockade appears to be part of an increasing pressure campaign on the road and the Armenians who depend on it, and the protesters appeared to be ready to stay.
With Karabakh’s fate in the balance, Ruben Vardanyan takes office while suggesting a new framework for coexistence: living “next to” Azerbaijanis, but not together.
He had been regularly critical of the government of Nikol Pashinyan. After news broke of his persona non grata status, another Russian critic, Margarita Simonyan, said she also had been banned.
