With Yerevan falling under a kleptocracy and Baku’s inept political class gripped by fear and self-loathing, Karabakh was subjected to a sustained campaign of violence and ethnic cleansing.
As the Soviet Union span out of control, hapless General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev could not control increasingly restive republics, straining for independence.
In a futile effort to illustrate Moscow’s continued pre-eminence, in January 1990, he ordered the Red Army into Azerbaijan. His troops massacred hundreds of unarmed civilian protestors in cold blood.
