According to the facts collected by the Artsakh Human Rights Defender staff, on January 12, around 3:30 p.m., the Azerbaijani side deliberately cut the communication wires coming from the Republic of Armenia to Artsakh in the Shushi section (place of the blockade), disrupting the access to telecommunications and fixed Internet in the entire territory of Artsakh. 

Taking advantage of the fact that the infrastructures coming to Artsakh pass through the territories under Azerbaijani control, the Azerbaijani side deliberately paralyzes the work of vital infrastructures, which is clearly evidenced by the gas supply disruptions (March 2022, December 2022), the restoration of high-voltage electric wires on January 9 , obstructing, periodic disruptions of Internet and mobile communication in the territory of Artsakh.

In the conditions of the complete siege of Artsakh, this method of sub-structural intimidation aims to subject the civilian population of Artsakh to additional suffering and create unbearable human conditions in Artsakh.

Azerbaijan’s behavior is an insult to the agenda of human rights, humanitarian values ​​and civilization. The states and international structures, and first of all the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, the USA and France, are obliged to put an end to Azerbaijan’s criminal tolerance and impunity.