US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mark Libby, offered condolences to Azerbaijan over the 34th anniversary of January 20 tragedy, Ednews informs.

“Today we mark the tragic events of Black January and remember those who perished. We offer our condolences to their friends and family members,” Ambassador Libby wrote on X.

On the night of January 19–20, 1990, under the direct orders of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, troops of the Ministry of Defense, the State Security Committee, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR entered Baku and several districts of Azerbaijan. Mass killings were carried out by firing from heavy equipment and various types of weapons.

The occupation of Baku by special forces of the Soviet army and a large contingent of internal troops was accompanied by special cruelty and unprecedented brutality. Until the state of emergency was announced to the population, military personnel mercilessly killed 82 people and fatally wounded 20. After the declaration of a state of emergency, 21 people were killed in Baku within a few days. Eight more people were killed in districts and cities where the state of emergency was not declared—on January 25 in Neftchala and on January 26 in Lankaran. Thus, 147 people were killed and 744 injured in Baku and its surrounding regions due to the illegal actions of the troops.