 After Soviet units completed the operation in the towns, they ordered a full-scale deportation of all resident Armenians in the two towns, helicoptering them to Nagorno-Karabakh's capital, Stepanakert, and later to Armenia proper.Supplanting the previous occupants were Azerbaijani refugees who had fled from Armenia to Azerbaijan during the previous three years of fighting.Initial public outcry denounced the launching of the operation as the Soviet and Azerbaijani governments went on to defend it, stating that the villagers of Shahumyan were providing aid and harboring the militias in their homes.