ArmInfo. On November 30, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented new facts of the situation during the war.
On his Facebook page, the head of the Armenian government noted that on October 20, the second and third presidents of Artsakh, Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, proposed to organize a meeting of the current and former leaders of Armenia and Artsakh, which would become an expression of national unity during the war. "After some discussion, I agreed. We agreed that when they give a signal that they are ready for a meeting, I will hold it," Nikol Pashinyan stressed.
He informed that Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan said at our next meeting that nuances were added to the idea. In particular, it was reported that the first and second presidents of Armenia Levon Ter- Petrosyan and Robert Kocharian want to go to Moscow, hold high-level meetings there, and our meeting will be organized after their return, becoming a kind of information gathering, a more informed discussion of the situation. ...
"I said that I was not against it, and even announced my readiness to provide a state plane, let them go, meet, return. However, after my consent, the former presidents of Artsakh raised another question. They said that I need to mediate with Russian President Vladimir Putin so that he received Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan as special envoys. I replied that I am in constant contact with the President of Russia. It happens that I talk to him on the phone five or six times a day. And if he asks me what exactly both ex -the president should tell the president of Russia that they cannot tell me directly, what should I answer? ", wrote the head of the Armenian government.
He stressed that the same question arose in the case of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, when the ex-presidents of Artsakh announced that our foreign minister should also act as a mediator in order for Lavrov to receive special representatives. "Our Foreign Minister is in constant contact with the Russian Foreign Minister, their meeting was planned in Moscow. If Lavrov asks the same question to our Foreign Minister, what should he answer?"
I suggested another option. Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan will arrive on an official visit to Moscow as retired presidents, where they will be guests of the former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council. Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan left, promising to discuss this option with Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan. It turned out that the idea I proposed did not really interest the latter. Bako Sahakyan unexpectedly informed me that Ter- Petrosyan and Kocharyan had agreed to meet with Sergei Lavrov. In that case, what do they want from me? They agreed to go to Moscow and meet. It turned out that we are talking about the passport of Robert Kocharian, who is in court. I said, let them go to court, I will ask the prosecutor's office not to object to the return of the passport. The court returned Kocharyan's passport, but Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan never left for Moscow.
This is what happened, "the head of the Armenian government concluded. A day earlier, Nikol Pashinyan also said on his Facebook page that on October 19, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan called him and said that the war must be stopped. He also said that he expresses this point of view not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of the retired presidents of the NKR Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, as well as ex-presidents of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan. "I called Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he said that, in his opinion, this should be done in accordance with the logic of the Russian proposals. That is, to postpone the issue of status, transfer territories, deploy Russian peacekeepers. I said that peacekeepers should be deployed. along the former border of NKAO and the Lachin corridor. He agreed, and we agreed that I would call again after discussion. I called the President of Artsakh and said that the option described above is possible. He said that I agree. After that I called the representatives of the extra-parliamentary forces and told them that he had made such a decision. "The reaction of many was reluctant, some wrote on social networks that those who would keep people from further struggle are traitors.
On the same day I called a meeting of the Security Council with the participation of representatives of the factions of the National Assembly. The President of the Republic and His Holiness were also present. The opposition was reluctant to accept the news, but I took the conversation as follows: that he was not going to hold them accountable. I simply informed them that I was not doing anything secret behind the backs of the people. I could not make any public statements, because if Azerbaijan rejected the offer after my public statement, it would be the collapse of our entire resistance system. I called the Russian president again and said that I agree. He said he would discuss this with Aliyev until morning and call him back. The next day, during a meeting with me, Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan said that they did not agree with any agreement without specifying the status of Artsakh or any mechanism of clarification. In fact, they said the same on behalf of R. Kocharian, S. Sargsyan and L. Ter-Petrosyan. But none of this mattered, because I had made a decision and was determined to see it through.
The next day, by agreement, the Russian president phoned. He said that Aliyev agreed, but peacekeepers should not be deployed along the borders of NKAO, since Hadrut and Talish are under their control, and Azerbaijanis do not agree to withdraw troops from these areas, and peacekeepers should be deployed on the territory with the de facto line of contact. Also, the Armenian side must undertake to return Azerbaijanis to Shushi. Thus, the ceasefire became impossible, because if I agreed with the issue of transferring Hadrut, I could not imagine the possibility of transferring Shushi to Azerbaijan. The Russian President asked why I was against the possibility of Azerbaijanis to return to Shushi. When I presented my arguments, he said that it was logical, he was not well aware of some of the nuances.
The problem was that in this case, there should have been 90% or more of the Azerbaijani population in Shushi, who would control the road to Stepanakert. I am convinced that if I agreed to hand over Shushi, Azerbaijan would set a new condition: the Krasny Shuka-Shushi highway should be under their control. Thus, no agreement was reached. At that time, Jebrail, Hadrut and several nearby villages, Fizuli and Talish were lost. Earlier, a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons was announced twice: once on October 10 through the mediation of the President of the Russian Federation, and the second on October 17 through the mediation of the President of France. Both mediation failed, "Nikol Pashinyan said.