YEREVAN. – The passive behavior of the President of Armenia during the [recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war raises questions. Former Deputy Defense Minister Artak Zakaryan told this to a press conference on Thursday.

In his opinion, no other president in any other parliamentary country would have behaved like that.

The opposition member noted that battles are fought by armies, whereas wars—by countries. In the case of the Armenian side, the army did its best, but there was no state, diplomacy, social or economic support behind it. "Instead, the Prime Minister made 50 contradictory statements during the war, and at the same time aimlessly wasted the pan-Armenian resource," Zakaryan stressed.

The former official stated that he has always taken the institution of the President seriously, which starts to function in times of crisis—in terms of resolving the situation, but today no one trusts the President of Armenia because he is engaged in a shuttle political trade that leads to nothing. "Now the situation in Armenia is such that one can even resort to misusing official powers for the state and necessity," Artak Zakaryan added.

But he did not rule out the possibility of the need to conduct mediation negotiations with the President, but the opposition has not yet made such decision.