YEREVAN. - The discussion on ending the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war took place for the first time at the October 19 meeting of the Security Council (SC). The latter’s secretary, Armen Grigoryan, stated about this at a briefing with reporters after Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government of Armenia, claiming that the then chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Onik Gasparyan, had not said on the fourth day of the war that it should be stopped.

"It was at that Security Council meeting that the view was voiced that we should stop [the war], that our capabilities will no longer be enough in 2-3 days. By the way, the leaders of the [parliamentary] opposition factions also had attended that meeting of the Security Council," Grigoryan added.

As for why they did not refute Gasparyan's statement earlier, but refuted it when the General Staff started demanding PM Nikol Pashinyan's resignation, Grigoryan said that they had spoken about it when Gasparyan was sacked and had gone, and not when he demanded resignation. "We are so late—taking into account the internal political situation, the general security environment. We have found that it is better to focus on work, army-building, reforms, than on those issues," the Security Council secretary said.