SOCHI, October 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin disagreed with allegations that someone thrust Nikol Pashinyan into power as Armenia’s prime minister so that he could give up the Karabakh territory.

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya media outlet and the RT TV channel, made the allegations at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club.

"I cannot agree that someone brought Prime Minister Pashinyan to power in order to give up Karabakh. This was the choice of the Armenian people," Putin pointed out. "I also disagree that he sought to give up Karabakh. <...> You see, I communicated with him during the 2020 conflict, and in my view, he sincerely tried to keep the situation under control. It’s not up to me to decide whether his decisions were right or wrong," the Russian president noted.

He added that after coming to power, Pashinyan had called Karabakh part of Armenia. "None of his predecessors said anything like that. Later, his position changed dramatically. Why this happened is not a question for me," Putin concluded.

Karabakh situation

On September 19, tensions flared up again in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced the start of a military operation. Yerevan, in turn, described what was happening as "an act of large-scale aggression." Russia called on the parties to end the bloodshed and return to efforts to resolve the issue diplomatically. On September 20, a ceasefire agreement was reached through the mediation of Russia’s peacekeeping mission. Azerbaijani officials and representatives of Karabakh Armenians met in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh on September 21 to discuss reintegration issues.

President of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree on September 28 to dissolve the unrecognized state from January 1, 2024. Its people were urged to consider the terms of reintegration in Azerbaijan, which were offered by Baku, and decide on their own whether to stay.