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Karabakh ex-state minister Ruben Vardanyan detained by Azerbaijani military while attempting to enter Armenia
Ruben Vardanyan, the former State Minister of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (also known as the Republic of Artsakh) was detained at a border checkpoint while trying to leave for the town of Goris in Armenia’s Syunik province earlier today, according to a report by Russian state-owned news agency TASS citing to a source in his entourage.
Vardanyan's wife Veronika Zonabend confirmed that he was detained by Azerbaijani authorities to the RBC news publication.
“This morning my husband, Ruben Vardanian, a philanthropist, businessman and former state minister of the Republic of Artsakh, was arrested and captured by Azerbaijani authorities at the border while trying to leave Artsakh with thousands of other Armenians fleeing the Azerbaijani occupation,” Zonabend said.
Update: Azerbaijan's State Border Service has confirmed the detention of Ruben Vardanyan. According to a statement released by the agency, Vardanyan was taken to Baku and handed over to “the relevant state to the relevant state authorities to make an appropriate decision.“
“On September 27, Ruben Karlenovich Vardanyan, born in 1968, who illegally entered the country and worked as the so-called 'State Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic' as a result of the vigilance of the military personnel of the State Border Service, was detained at the exit point of the 'Lachin' state border while moving from the Republic of Azerbaijan in the direction of Armenia,“ the statement read.
The Border Service also published a photo of Vardanyan in handcuffs, which are blurred out in the published image.