For the first time in a year and a half of living in Yerevan, this week someone in the Armenian capital refused to speak Russian to me.
I was standing outside the Russian Embassy, watching as protesters attempted to blockade it. It was 19 September, the day Azerbaijani forces shelled Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian enclave that is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory. Stepanakert’s security was supposed to be ensured by Russian peacekeepers, according to a Kremlin-brokered agreement struck in the wake of Azerbaijan’s 2020 offensive against the region.
Azerbaijan’s successful campaign to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh – a dramatic end to its ten-month blockade of the enclave – means Stepanakert is now home to tens of thousands of refugees. And Russia did nothing to stop it. So when my interlocutor refused to speak Russian with me, I understood.
