30 November 2020, 21:51
Pashinyan discloses details of talks with Putin on Nagorno-Karabakh
Before signing the statement to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian President agreed with the arguments of the Armenian Prime Minister, who ruled out the possibility of surrendering the city of Shushi to Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan himself claimed.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that according to the Prime Minister of Armenia, the parties discussed the issue of transferring the city of Shushi (the Azerbaijani name is Shusha, – note of the "Caucasian Knot"). However, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated that the issue of Shushi had not been discussed.
The agreement between Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to stop the hostilities in Karabakh was signed after two unsuccessful attempts to retake Shushi, a key city in Karabakh. According to Nikol Pashinyan, after the fall of Shushi, 25,000 soldiers could be killed in the encirclement.
According to the Armenian Prime Minister, on October 19, Nagorno-Karabakh President Araik Arutyunyan called him and noted that the war must be stopped. "I called Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he said that should be done in accordance with Russian proposals to postpone the issue of status, transfer the regions to Azerbaijan, and deploy Russian peacekeepers," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Nikol Pashinyan as saying.
"It was supposed that Armenia should also undertake obligations to return Azerbaijanis to Shushi. Thus, the truce became impossible, because I said I saw no possibility of surrendering Shushi to Azerbaijan," Nikol Pashinyan added.
Earlier, President Putin has stated that Armenia called the return of Azerbaijani refugees to Shusha unacceptable, and Nikol Pashinyan said that he treated such a return as a threat to the interests of Armenia and Karabakh.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 30, 2020 at 10:24 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
