The Region in Brief
Artsakh
Former Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan, currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan, has described the legal proceedings against him and other former Artsakh officials as predetermined, stressing that the charges were largely fabricated and unsupported by evidence.
In a message sent from prison, Babayan said the trial was “theater,” with a script written in advance. He said one of the defense lawyers acknowledged that Azerbaijani authorities did not want the cases to reach an international court because more than 95% of the accusations were fabricated and lacked supporting evidence.
Babayan cited his own life sentence as an example, saying he was convicted under provisions accusing him of attempting to overthrow Azerbaijan’s government and seize power in the country. He said he challenged the prosecution to produce evidence that he had participated in any internal struggle for power in Azerbaijan or maintained an organization or network there, but received no substantive response.
He also stated that testimony and case records were distorted, omitted or substantially altered in official documentation, describing the proceedings as a form of “legal apartheid.” Babayan said he intended to raise these procedural violations before international judicial bodies. He also reported health problems affecting himself and several other Armenian detainees, adding that he had asked for his condition to be formally recorded during court proceedings.
Separately, concerns have been raised over the condition of the 17th-century St. Harutyun Armenian Church in Hadrut. Activist Alen Ghulyan said footage circulating on Azerbaijani social media appeared to show damage and desecration at the church, which was built in 1621.
According to Ghulyan, the footage showed inscriptions and alterations on the church walls, while the cross that previously stood on the dome had been removed. He said earlier images taken after Azerbaijan established control over Hadrut showed the cross still in place, suggesting that it was removed sometime after 2022.
Ghulyan also noted that the available footage does not show the church courtyard, making it impossible to assess the condition of historic gravestones near the entrance. He recalled that Azerbaijani authorities announced plans in December 2023 to conduct archaeological excavations at the site and establish a museum presenting what they describe as the church’s Caucasian Albanian heritage, a characterization rejected by Armenians who rightfully identify St. Harutyun as part of Artsakh’s Armenian cultural and religious heritage.
Azerbaijan
Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan have come under renewed strain following a series of moves involving Azerbaijani diaspora figures in Russia and Russian nationals targeted by authorities in Baku.
On Aug. 17, Russian authorities deported Bakhtiyar Hasanov, chairman of the Azerbaijani National Cultural Autonomy in Moscow, to Azerbaijan. Hasanov had been stripped of his Russian citizenship in 2025 and was detained by Russian law enforcement in June 2026 before being held at a temporary detention center for migrants. The precise grounds for the revocation of his citizenship and subsequent deportation have not been publicly clarified.
Since 2025, several Azerbaijani community figures have reportedly faced citizenship revocations, detention or expulsion. The issue has become increasingly politically sensitive since Russian security forces carried out raids targeting Azerbaijani families in Yekaterinburg in June 2025, during which two ethnic Azerbaijani brothers died.
On the same day as Hasanov’s deportation, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced that three Russian citizens — political commentator Semyon Uralov, Moscow 24 presenter Ivan Knyazev and journalist Alexei Chadayev, who was serving as an adviser to Russia’s transport minister — had been charged and placed on an international wanted list. Azerbaijani prosecutors accused the three of making public calls for the forcible overthrow of the country’s constitutional order, violating its territorial integrity, inciting ethnic hatred and publicly calling for terrorism in broadcasts published on Uralov’s YouTube channel in July and August. A court ordered their arrest in absentia.
Baku later summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest what it described as threatening and provocative rhetoric against Azerbaijan in Russian media and called on Moscow to take measures to curb such statements.
Moscow has sought to distance itself from the statements attributed to the three Russians. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said their remarks did not represent the Russian government’s position toward Azerbaijan, while adding that Moscow was prepared to defend the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens if necessary. She also accused Azerbaijani media of carrying narratives hostile to Russia and called for the dispute over the information environment to be addressed through bilateral consultations.
The dispute produced a further development on Aug. 19, when Chadayev announced his resignation as an adviser to Russia’s transport minister, saying he did not want his personal statements to affect interstate relations or interfere with cooperation between the two governments.
Iran
Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, said that Tehran is closely monitoring regional military activity.
Abdollahi questioned whether large numbers of military aircraft could operate from or through the region without the knowledge of host governments. He warned that any assistance provided to U.S. forces would be regarded by Tehran as cooperation with the U.S. military and participation in its operations.
Iran also says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until a series of economic and security-related conditions are met, according to Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Ghalibaf said reopening the strategic waterway would depend on the lifting of the maritime blockade and oil sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets, an end to military operations on all fronts and implementation of other provisions contained in Iran’s memorandum of understanding with the United States.
Russia
Russia said that compliance with food safety and mandatory import requirements will be central to resuming supplies of Armenian agricultural products currently subject to restrictions, Interfax reported.
According to the Agriculture Ministry, Armenian producers will need to ensure the use of domestically sourced raw materials, strengthen pesticide controls, guarantee supply chain traceability and comply with other mandatory standards before affected products can return to the Russian market.
The issue was discussed during a meeting between Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut and Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan on the sidelines of the seventh meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union’s Council on Agricultural Policy in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
