What this actor is
The unrecognised Armenian-run entity that administered mountainous Karabakh from the first war until 2023 — blockaded, defeated in a one-day offensive, emptied by the exodus of its population, and formally dissolved on 1 January 2024. Profiled here as history the region's present is built on.
Confidence: High Reviewed 2026-09-28
What it was
A de facto state with elections, an army and three decades of institutional life, sustained by Armenia and never recognised by it — an ambiguity that let Yerevan fight for territory it did not formally claim. Its self-name was the Republic of Artsakh; Azerbaijan regarded it as occupation of its sovereign territory, a position international law's territorial reading consistently favoured.
How it ended
The 2020 defeat reduced it to a remnant under Russian peacekeeping; the 2022–23 blockade weakened it; the September 2023 offensive broke it in a day. The dissolution decree its final leader signed — later disputed by some of its own officials, several now in Baku's custody — closed the institution. The population's departure closed the society.
What remains open
The displaced community's return and property claims; the trials of the former leadership in Baku; the treatment of Armenian heritage under Azerbaijani control; archives and records of three decades; and the political weight of 100,000 displaced voters inside Armenia. The entity is historical — its unfinished business is not.
Not published for Former Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian authorities (Republic of Artsakh)Posture (objectives, constraints, leverage)
Elsewhere in Caucasus
Last reviewed — 2026-09-28