Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at a press conference in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Wednesday, revealed some little-known details of the forgotten negotiation process over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Responding to an aggressive question by an Armenian reporter, the Russian FM emphasized that no one can reproach Russia because for at least the past 20 years, both President Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev had been pushing for solutions that provided a fair approach through peace talks.

According to Lavrov, it was proposed to “hand over five of the seven Azerbaijani regions as a first step and retain the Kelbajar and Lachin regions as an intermediate phase, putting off the resolution of the final status issue of Nagorno-Karabakh for many years, and in fact, until future generations.”

The Russian FM noted that what happened—editor’s note: the complete occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan—was a consequence of the fact that “compromise proposals were rejected.”

“However, the right to choose—to reject the resolution—was exercised,” Lavrov added.