“As a representative of the RPA on October 12 and 19 of 2020, I participated in a meeting with extra-parliamentary forces in the government. At the October 12 meeting, Nikol Pashinyan presented the situation. At that moment, he already said that Talish had given, that there were battles for Mataghis, that Jabrail had been given, and that there were battles for Hadrut, although we had information from Artsakh that Hadrut was already under the control of Azerbaijani forces. I can not reveal much as there is a problem of state secrecy, but that day it was already clear that we are not going to victory, but to defeat. He said that the situation is bad,” former NA Deputy Speaker and RPA Spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov stated during the “Lost Victory: Betrayal or Illiteracy” conference on October 29th.
Sharmazanov said that at that time he made a statement. “I presented the RPA’s assessment, according to which this war was led by the blunders of this government – renunciation of Vienna-St. Petersburg, saying that Artsakh is Armenia and that’s it, spoiling strategic relations with Russia, etc. I mentioned that we should not look for traitors at this crucial moment, and at that moment they were busy appointing the culprits.” Eduard Sharmazanov also spoke about Nikol Pashinyan’s statement about Armenian politicians in Iran as a foreign agent, the search for conspiratorial forces in Artsakh, etc., and wondering whether all this is a result of chance, ignorance, or conspiracy. At the same time, he noted that despite all that, the RPA is ready to provide its service to the homeland wherever necessary. ARF Dashnaktsutyun representative Ishkhan Saghatelyan said the same, assuring that no one claimed the victory laurels.
Eduard Sharmazanov detailed that during that meeting, he suggested that Nikol Pashinyan appeal to Russia if he had to ask for steps to be taken to stop the war. “I added that if we do not accept the proposals on the table today, the possibility is very large and it is realistic that in 1-2 days we will have greater territorial and human losses. There was no negative reaction from Nikol Pashinyan. The second meeting took place on October 19. We offered to volunteer and Nikol Pashinyan that headquarters be set up so that the former presidents, defense ministers, former foreign ministers, former heads of the General Staff, and people who had a great service in victory and statehood would try to get out of this situation together. That meeting took place after the Security Council session. When we entered, we saw Arman Abovyan and Edmon Marukyan in the corridor… they were quite upset. We went inside, Nikol Pashinyan came, and he was in a rather bad psychological state. I had not seen him in that state before or after, even in the bunkers. He said there was a proposal from Putin to end the war. He presented the situation. He accepted that it was a defeat because there were questions, not from me.
Ishkhan Saghatelyan asked, in fact, we are losing, it is a capitulation, he said yes. There were various rumors that before that there was an offer to stop the war and on better terms. From the beginning, he said that it was 5 + 2, the Lavrov plan or a modified version of it. I emphasize that because Hadrut and Shushi are not included in 5 + 2. He said that Shushi was negotiated a long time ago and we gave away Shushi a long time ago. I asked him if there was another offer. He said that he also said in the parliament that it is 5 + 2. I said it was not about that, it was public, we saw it. I said, what was offered to you from September 27 to October 19? Could there have been a proposal to hand over the three districts to stop the war, to hand over the four districts to stop the war, but another proposal, he said no, is 5 + 2. Ishkhan Saghatelyan asked if we had a reserve to win, but he did not say yes. If on October 19 you are offered to stop the war with 5 + 2, you do not do that, on October 29 you announce something about the world army, you say, form detachments, go and fight, how could you have done that when you knew then that there is no game against the Bayraktars? You say the former regime is to blame. There were no Bayraktars in the former regime. Putin clearly stated that Armenia was losing insignificant territories in the south and agreed to the return of refugees to Shushi. If you knew you had no reserve to win, why didn’t you agree to it?”
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Nelly GRIGORYAN
