“The coming days will be decisive,” the de facto leader of Karabakh announced as Azerbaijani forces advanced toward Shushi. Baku may see the capture of the town as critical leverage to achieve a favorable political settlement.
Even while negotiations are continuing, it is clear that developments on the battlefield are driving events far more strongly than anything agreed over the negotiation table.
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.
