If Russia decides to withdraw its peacekeepers from Nagorno Karabakh, that will mean it sees no threat for the residents of Artsakh and the dialogue between Stepanakert and Baku has been effective, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said at a televised press conference on Tuesday.

Pashinyan said that the deployment of the Russian peacekeeping troops in Nagorno-Karabakh has a purpose which is recorded in the relevant resolution of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. In the resolution it is said that the Federal Assembly allows the Russian president to send a peacekeeping force to Nagorno Karabakh to prevent the mass killing of the population there.

"In other words, the President of the Russian Federation himself appealed to the Federal Assembly that a peacekeeping force must be sent to Nagorno Karabakh to prevent the mass slaughter of the population. Now, if Russia decides to withdraw, regardless of the nuances, it at least means that there is no such danger in Nagorno Karabakh,” he said.

“If there is such a danger in Nagorno Karabakh, it is difficult to imagine how such a decision can be made. And if there is no such danger, it means that the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue within the framework of the international mechanism was found to be effective and the parties agreed that there is no longer a need for the presence of the peacekeeping troops," Nikol Pashinyan added.