The new fighting was an early test for the Russian peacekeeping mission as it tries to manage a new, ambiguous de facto border that passes through populated areas.
Moscow at first responded to the war cautiously, but was in the end forced to intervene decisively. Was this a geopolitical coup or was Moscow’s hand forced?
The messaging from Moscow has been pro-Armenia but critical of its government. And some Armenians are questioning their leaders’ flirtation, as mild as it’s been, with the West.
The appearance of the self-defense units is the second time this year that civil society has been forced to hold the line. Where the state repeatedly fails to live up to its obligations, volunteers step in.