YEREVAN. – During the October 11 meeting of the NA [National Assembly] Council, [PM Nikol] Pashinyan said that we are losing [the Artsakh Nagorno-Karabakh) war], but his solution is that there should be a short ceasefire and we should continue the war. Edmon Marukyan, chairman of the opposition Bright Armenia Party and head of its parliamentary faction, stated this in a talk with reporters at the National Assembly Monday.

"I said [to Pashinyan], 'Turn to Russia, let them stop [the war] quickly.' Putin said that, ‘Let Shushi [city of Artsakh] remain under your control, but the [Azerbaijani] refugees should come [there];’ he [Pashinyan] did not agree [to that]. Nikol Pashinyan does not deny this (…). He had the opportunity to end the war 20 days earlier, but he did not do that. Why? Numerous reasons are given, but who cares about them? (…). There is one culprit here; that man's name is Nikol Pashinyan, [son] of Vova. (…). We had a question as to whether there is a resource [for the Armenian side] to continue the war. We asked this question, too, at the Security Council session; they said no. He [Pashinyan] said, ‘There is no option this is [the ‘Battle of] Sardarapat [in 191].’ [But] he did not take into account that there was no Bayraktar [drones of Turkey] during Sardarapat," Marukyan added.

On November 9, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement on a complete cessation of hostilities— which Azerbaijan had launched on September 27—in and around Artsakh. Accordingly, Russian peacekeepers are deployed in the region to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities. But this statement also stipulates the handover of part of Artsakh lands to Azerbaijan.