22:50, 9 October 2020

Business trip of journalist Azar to Nagorno-Karabakh interrupted after Armenia's claims

Ilya Azar. Photo: Sergey Karpov / Yugopolis

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia cancelled the accreditation of Ilya Azar, a reporter of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", after a report from Shushi and Lachin, which caused a public outcry. This was reported by the journalist himself. The newspaper regarded the Armenian MFA's actions as interference in journalistic activities and interrupted the Ilya Azar's business trip.

Earlier, volunteers reported that the losses of the Defence Army were much higher than those announced and that the soldiers faced a shortage of firearms, Ilya Azar reported in his article.

The newspaper's website states that Karen Mirzoyan, the former Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, "demanded to remove from the report the information about the service personnel staying in a bombed cultural centre of Shushi as not corresponding to real facts."

According to a letter, sent by the Armenian MFA to Ilya Azar, he had not applied for accreditation on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ilya Azar also notes that because of his visit to Karabakh, he has been a persona non grata in Azerbaijan since 2011.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 9, 2020 at 01:20 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.