Kremlin ‘Nyet’ Stirs Protest by Armenians
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MOSCOW — Thousands of Armenians in a disputed region of the Caucasus stayed away from factories and schools today to protest the Kremlin’s refusal to make the area part of the Armenian republic.
Groups of young men blocked pedestrians and busloads of workers from reporting to their jobs in Stepanakert, the main city of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the government newspaper Izvestia reported. It said authorities used mobile loudspeakers and leaflets to urge an end to the strike.
The state-controlled media said the ethnic unrest was damaging the region’s economy.
About three-quarters of the 157,000 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been part of Azerbaijan since 1923, are ethnic Armenians.
The official radio in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, said “extremely fanatical elements” incited disturbances Saturday in Nagorno-Karabakh.
It did not describe the disturbances or say exactly where they occurred in the disputed territory. The British Broadcasting Corp. monitored the broadcast in London.
Sporadic strikes and protests have been reported in Nagorno-Karabakh since Feb. 13. The latest labor trouble is said to have begun Wednesday after Moscow refused Armenian demands to annex the region, about the size of Delaware.
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