In the second half of 1987, acute interethnic tensions arose in the NKAO. In February 1988, the crisis situation in the region intensified after the Sumgait pogrom. The personnel of the regiment to show signs of demoralization due to the factors constant attacks on military personnel with the aim of seizing weapons, a lack of proper food supply, understaffing and pressure coming from the local population. The understaffing of the personnel, which affected the impossibility of ensuring reliable protection of the regiment's facilities. "Officers and soldiers didn’t receive money for months, they didn’t eat bread for weeks, they ate only crackers from the NZ (emergency reserve)". In such conditions, by the end of 1991, many officers of the regiment began receiving offers to participate in hostilities on a paid basis, on the side of the Armenian armed formations. On December 25, 1991, with the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the regiment formally became part of the CIS Joint Armed Forces. At this point, officers of the regiment had begun to offer assistance to the Armenian population, while the units based in Ganja sided with the Azeri population. A factor in this change in policy was the fact that 50 of the remaining 350 personnel of the regiment were ethnic Armenians, including the commander of the 2nd Battalion, Major Seyran Ohanyan. Of particular use to the Armenian Army was the regimental tank company's ten tanks.