Azerbaijan arrests former top Karabakh minister as exodus tops 50,000

Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh region ride in the back of a truck as they arrive in the border village of Kornidzor, Armenia, September 26, 2023. REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze

GORIS, Armenia (Reuters) -A former head of the breakaway ethnic Armenian government in Nagorno-Karabakh was arrested by Azerbaijan on Wednesday as he tried to escape into Armenia as part of an exodus of tens of thousands of people that has triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Ruben Vardanyan, a billionaire banker and philanthropist, headed Karabakh's separatist government between November 2022 and February 2023.