The former authorities were telling Azerbaijan that Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) needs to be an independent state and determine its future, and the international community had agreed with this, and we were ready to vacate certain territories (5+2) in exchange for that. This is what Vice-President of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan told reporters today.

“However, we weren’t planning to vacate the territories before the issue of status was solved. We were telling Azerbaijan that if it unleashes a war, Armenia will strike the country’s natural gas and oil pipelines and cut its funding. We were also telling Azerbaijan that if it unleashes a war and the war lasts long, Armenia will recognize Artsakh’s independence and put an end to the process of holding negotiations in the existing format. We said the same things to the international community and told the latter to suppress Azerbaijan, and it did,” Ashotyan said, adding that what happened after all this was treason.

“During the war, the Armenian authorities gave guarantees that they wouldn’t strike oil and natural gas pipelines, and Azerbaijan succeeded in building a new natural gas pipeline that would stretch to Europe. This is embarrassing. This couldn’t have happened,” he said.