Yesterday, some mass media outlets in Armenia rushed to re-print the part of the extensive publication entitled ‘One Year After War in Artsakh’ of ‘Komsomolskaya Pravda’ relating to Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan.

During the talk with Alen Simonyan, the journalists presented his feelings as a fact, but they do not show the real picture at all.

The reality is the following: First, Alen Simonyan has not given a separate interview to the journalist of the given media. The representative of the media outlet met with the parliamentary speaker together with the journalists of a number of Russian media outlets on November 12 within the framework of the visit to Armenia.

In reality, the journalist’s question and Alen Simonyan’s answer were distorted and cut from the context. The journalist also mentions in the article that he tries to defend Russia from another accusation. However, during the Q & A session, it is clearly seen that not only accusation has not been voiced against Russia, but also Alen Simonyan does not agree with the journalist’s observations.

We present the Q & A:

Journalist: - You have handed over Karabakh…

NA Speaker Alen Simonyan: - You think that we have handed over Karabakh?

Journalist: - I think that it was done for Armenia to change the geopolitical vector – from Russia to other…

NA Speaker Alen Simonyan: - Such perception, such ideas are also among the Armenian society, according to which Russia handed over Karabakh with the same logic…

Journalist: - And do you agree with that idea?

NA Speaker Alen Simonyan: - And what served as a basis for you to say that somebody handed over Karabakh? Because, you know, when they say that somebody handed over Karabakh, you offend the victims and the families, who lost their close relatives in that war. Our people fought till the end, and if someone was going to hand over anything, there were several options for doing that: starting from the Lavrov plan and ending with a decision, in which case we would not have 3,800 victims from the Armenian side. So, to say that somebody handed over something means to be unaware of what’s happening in Armenia, to be unaware of what’s happening in Azerbaijan, what’s happening in Karabakh and, unfortunately, - in Russia.

Journalist: - In October, I was at a gathering of Donbas volunteers. Several thousands of people were getting ready to come to help. The Head of the Union said, you should not go, several people had gone and had come back. The law on mercenaries was passed in Armenia, and many of the volunteers were within the domain of the law. So, conscientiously, you have stopped the flow of the people who were ready to shed blood.

NA Speaker Alen Simonyan: - We had no problem related to the number of people. Our problem was how to fight against Bayraktars, and it was not possible to pierce them with our technical equipment. We removed about 25.000 servicemen from the territories that became territories under the control of Azerbaijan. And you think that we were defeated in the war because we did not have people? You believe that in 2020 people won the war?

Here we present enclosed the video without any interference, and we leave the judgments to you, if the interview has turned into dispute or Alen Simonyan ‘has warmed up’ from the middle of the talk. We call on the correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda to refrain from presenting diverse speculations and not help the people who are trying to hurt the Armenian-Russian relations and thrust a wedge in the relations between the two friendly and allied countries with their actions.