On September 14, Karen Avanesyan, an Armenian resident of Khankendi (Stepanakert in Armenian), was detained for allegedly planning an armed provocation, amid ongoing Azerbaijani security operations to uncover weapons in Karabakh.

According to Azerbaijani media, Avanesyan had hidden a Kalashnikov assault rifle, four boxes of ammunition, and five grenades in a forest near his home. During his detention, he reportedly resisted police "with a gun and threw three hand grenades," wounding one officer before being injured himself by police fire.

The Azerbaijani media also released footage claiming to show Avanesyan "preparing for an armed provocation," where he was seen moving repeatedly between his residence and an unknown location with backpacks and wearing different sets of clothing.

Tigran Abrahamyan, an MP from the opposition "I Have Honour" faction, wrote in a Facebook post that it was "difficult to say what actually happened." He noted that while around 50 Armenians remained in the region after Azerbaijan’s final offensive in 2023, only about 10 were still there in 2025. Abrahamyan suggested the incident might have been a response to "videos expressing mockery and insults towards Armenians in Stepanakert" that often appeared on Azerbaijani social media.

He added, "This also suggests what would have happened to the people of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] if they had listened to the exhortations of the Armenian authorities to stay and live in Artsakh, in an environment of Azerbaijani control and hatred."

On September 15, the State Security Service of Azerbaijan, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Mine Action Agency, announced the discovery of a large number of weapons and ammunition in the village of Kichik Galadarasi, Shusha district. According to their joint statement, operational and search measures in Karabakh to uncover secret storage sites of illegal firearms and explosives were continuing.