YEREVAN, September 27. /TASS/. Armenia has asked the European Court of Human Rights help get Azerbaijan to provide information on the whereabouts and health of Ruben Vardanyan, the former state minister of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, after was detained at the border, Armenian officials told TASS.

"The Armenian side demanded that the ECHR bind Baku to provide information on where Vardanyan was taken and in what condition he is now," said the office of the Armenian representative on international legal issues.

Vardanyan was earlier detained by Azerbaijani security forces while trying to leave Nagorno-Karabakh for the Armenian town of Goris in the Syunik Region.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry is working to gain consular access to Vardanyan and will protect his rights, a diplomatic source in Yerevan told TASS.

"The issue of consular access to Vardanyan is being handled by the Armenian Foreign Ministry, which will protect the rights of the citizen of the Republic of Armenia," the source said.

The Azerbaijani border guard service said its officers detained Vardanyan as he attempted to cross into Armenia at the Lachin border checkpoint. Vardanyan’s wife Veronika Zonabend earlier also confirmed reports that he had been detained.

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