Public Radio of Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan provides details on his discussions with the retired Presidents of Artsakh, the willingness of the first and second Presidents of Armenia to visit Moscow for discussions on Nagorno Karbakh:
PM Nikol Pashinyan’s Facebook post is provided below:
On October 20, the second and third Presidents of Artsakh Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan proposed to organize a meeting of the current and former leaders of Armenia and Artsakh, which would be an expression of national unity during the war. After some discussion, I agreed. We agreed that when they give a signal that the resigned Presidents of Armenia are ready, I will organize the meeting.
Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan said at our next meeting that Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan wanted to go to Moscow, have high-level meetings there, and our meeting would be organized after their return for more informed discussion of the situation.
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I said that I was not against the idea, I would even provide the official plane, let them leave, have meetings and return. However, the retired Presidents of Artsakh raised another issue after my consent. They said that it was necessary for me to mediate with Russian President Vladimir Putin so that he would receive Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan as special envoys.
I answered the following. I am in constant contact with the President of Russia. Sometimes I talk to him on the phone five or six times a day. Now if he asks me, what I have to tell him that I cannot tell directly and want to say it through special envoys, what should I answer?
The same question arose in the case of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, when the resigned Presidents of Artsakh said that our Foreign Minister would also mediate for Lavrov to receive our special envoys. Our Foreign Minister was in constant contact with the Russian Foreign Minister, their meeting was scheduled in Moscow. If Lavrov asks our Foreign Minister the same question, what should he answer?
I offered another option. Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan will pay a formal visit to Moscow as resigned Presidents, where they will be the guest of retired Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is also the Vice-President of the Russian Security Council.
Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan left, promising to discuss this option with Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan. It turned out that the version I suggested was not very interesting for the latter. Bako Sahakyan unexpectedly announced to me that Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan had an agreement to meet with Sergey Lavrov.
In that case, what do they want from me? They agreed to go to Moscow and meet. It turned out that the question was Robert Kocharyan’s passport, which was in court. I said let them petition the court, I will ask the prosecution not to object to the return of the passport. That’s what happened. The court returned Kocharyan’s passport, but Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan did not leave for Moscow.