Days before Azerbaijan launched an assault against Armenia, Armenians began using a new, Azerbaijan-constructed road to travel between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
Tension between the two sides has been exacerbated by continuing disagreement of the nature of a road that would connect the two parts of Azerbaijan through Armenian territory.
Ruben Vardanyan has said his move is a patriotic gesture and he has dropped hints about entering politics. But others wonder if international sanctions against Russia may be motivating him, too.
A lack of detailed data means that it is difficult to measure what a 49 percent increase in exports to Russia means. But the country’s partners in Europe and the U.S. are watching.
In 2020, Azerbaijan won back many of the water resources it had lost to Armenians in the 1990s. But the biggest source still eludes it, and farmers are still struggling.
Prosecutors have begun to file lawsuits based on the country’s new unexplained wealth law, targeting assets from allegedly corrupt former officials. But is the process politicized?
The currency has risen close to 20 percent in recent months. Prices for imported goods, meanwhile, remain high due to worldwide inflationary pressures.