Dear friends of Crisis Group,

I am excited to share with you a new update of Crisis Group’s Visual Explainer for the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. The Visual Explainer has been designed as a resource for those seeking to understand this conflict. It also functions as a tool for policymakers and others involved in the peace process or in mitigating the conflict’s humanitarian impact.

Building on the success of the tool that we first launched in 2019, we have added many new and unique features to reflect changes in the region since the 2020 war. Among other things, we are tremendously pleased to announce that the Visual Explainer is now available in Russian as well as English. 

The core upgrade relates to the data we collect and how we present it. We have introduced two new interactive maps, developed in collaboration with external specialists, that illustrate the situation inside the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and along the state borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The casualties map above identifies the deadliest areas along the post-war front lines. When you click on the brown bubbles, you can see a breakdown of both deaths and injuries among military and civilians, caused by sniper fire, fighting or mine explosions. Our data indicate that the border zone between Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar and Armenia’s Gegharkunik regions has been the deadliest area since the 2020 war. 

The post-war detentions map above tracks detentions of both combatants and civilians. Over 100 combatants, mainly Armenian, have been detained since the 2020 war. Most have been released, although some remain in custody. Civilian detention numbers are much smaller, but based on our data, civilian detentions are most common in the areas around Azerbaijan’s Agdam and Armenia’s Goris regions.  

These unique maps are also an extremely valuable historical resource. They visualise the front lines before and after the 2020 war, drawn using satellite imagery, and the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) as defined by Soviet-era maps. The Lachin corridor is presented as defined in current official maps published by the Russian peacekeeping mission to Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Our page contains many more features that should help better understand the current dynamics and compare them to the trends before the 2020 war. Check them out! 

If you are already using the Visual Explainer, we hope these changes make it even more useful. If you are new to this resource, we hope you find it of value. If you do, please share it with your colleagues and friends. They can subscribe to receive our updates via this link.

We would also love to hear your thoughts on how we can make this tool even more valuable. If you have ideas or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us by responding to this email: NKVisualExplainer@crisisgroup.org.

Kind regards,

Olga Oliker, Program Director, Europe and Central Asia