YEREVAN, September 27. /TASS/. Ruben Vardanyan, former state minister of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, was arrested on the Azerbaijani border as he attempted to depart for Goris in Armenia’s Syunik province, a person close to the politician told TASS.

"Vardanyan was detained as he was crossing Akari Bridge," the person said.

TASS has yet to obtain official comments from both Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Vardanyan was appointed the unrecognized republic’s state minister in November 2022 and he was removed from the post in February. A Russian businessman, Vardanyan co-founded Troika Dialog, Russia’s oldest brokerage, in 1991 and he was also the first president of the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo. In September 2022, he renounced his Russian citizenship and moved to Nagorno-Karabakh.