The authorities in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have imposed longer daily power cuts in the country effective from Tuesday amid the deepening crisis which began after the disruption of electricity supplies from Armenia.
A section of the only high-voltage power line coming from Armenia was knocked down near the Azeri-held town of Lachin on January 9, nearly one month after Azerbaijani “eco-activists” blocked the Lachin corridor, Artsakh’s sole land link with Armenia.
Azerbaijan does not allow Artsakh specialists to visit the site of the accident and repair the power line.
The Artsakh leadership had to impose rolling blackouts to save energy.
At a meeting on Monday, the government task force decided to extend the daily power outages from two to four hours to help meet the minimum energy needs of the population as long as possible.
Many businesses, pre-school institutions and schools using electricity for heating had to close or limit their activities.
