Hovannisian’s Zharangutyun (Heritage) party said Russian peacekeeping soldiers manning a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor stopped him as he travelled to Stepanakert to attend his grandson’s baptism.
“Showing him an order from their commander along with an accompanying photo, the soldiers at the checkpoint did not give any clear reason or justification for the refusal but confirmed that the ban could emanate from “the highest echelon’ of official Yerevan,” Zharangutyun said in a statement.
It said Karabakh’s leadership was “very surprised” by the entry ban and tried in vain to have it lifted.
The statement quoted Hovannisian as seemingly blaming Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for the ban. The U.S.-born politician, who had served as Armenia’s first foreign minister, pointed the finger at an unnamed “failed leader who must quit along with his xenophobic neighbor for the sake of real regional peace and security.”
The authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert could not be reached for comment on Monday morning. The pro-government news website civic.am quoted a spokesperson for the National Security Service (NSS) as saying that Armenia’s government has nothing to do with the travel ban.
Armenian opposition parliamentarians likewise blamed Pashinian when they were barred from entering Karabakh in April on a visit which was as part of their campaign against far-reaching Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan.
Pashinian and the Armenian Foreign Ministry put the blame on the Russian peacekeepers, however, saying that their actions ran counter to the terms of the Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in November 2020. Moscow rejected the criticism.