“The West and Russia are playing football; who will score first, that is, will sell us sooner and better,” Vladimir Poghosyan observes.
In a conversation with “Aravot,” Vladimir Poghosyan, Advisor to the former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Onik Gasparyan, referred to the Azerbaijani attack on May 11 in the direction of Gegharkunik Region. “We need to understand why these actions started in Sotk. They say that Pashinyan and Aliyev met through Blinken’s mediation; how can they start a war after that? I always remind you that on April 1, 2016, Serzh Sargsyan and Aliyev met in the USA, but on April 2, Azerbaijan attacked. When Aliyev did not go to Moscow, I immediately said they would attack in 1-2 days. He doesn’t go to Moscow to participate in the parade, so they don’t say he has something to do with Russia; he goes there and gets an order, then comes back and attacks us. In other words, Aliyev and Putin show that they are not that close, as if Aliyev does not respect Putin. Before the attack, Zakharova says that Armenia should understand that it should negotiate here and not criticize the CSTO. In other words, they say to Aliyev: start; he is attacking, then they say: you should come here to negotiate. It is a joint operation.
I don’t want them to go to Moscow to negotiate; it is beneficial for us to negotiate in the West because the West at least sets a condition: it talks about the status of Artsakh, and Putin will never talk about it,” he said.
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According to Vladimir Poghosyan, Nikol Pashinyan talks about peace, but we have victims and wounded every day. “Therefore, as long as his team is sitting in those chairs, as long as the Minister of Defense is in that cabinet, as long as the Chief of the General Staff is there, the consequences will be like that. Now there are malicious processes in the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense, and nobody wants to serve with them. Luckily, the Turks did not launch a large-scale attack on Vardenis. I know what will happen; God forbid, if they launch a large-scale attack in the direction of Vardenis, they will move forward after a maximum of four hours. I have a question like this: how did it happen that Aliyev attacked today, and they had prepared a big speech at the government session? Maybe they were aware of it,” he said.
According to Vladimir Poghosyan: “Whether they want to go to Prague or another country, the Russian tells them: you should discuss the issue with me. But my condition is this: you must open the corridor; we are not talking about the status of Artsakh; you are not the one who decides; it is me, Erdogan, and Aliyev.
Maria Zakharova’s statement was that if you go to the West, Aliyev will go deeper.” Turning to the question that the West does not prevent Azerbaijani attacks, Poghosyan said: “If they wanted, they could have stopped it. When Russia attacked Ukraine, they closed SWIFT in all of Russia; why don’t they close the SWIFT of Azerbaijanis? If they want, they will force Aliyev in an hour and say: we are impounding all your money, destroying the banking system, go live as you wish; what should Aliyev do? In other words, they are playing football about who will score first, Russia or the West? In other words, who will sell us sooner and better?
Therefore, when the West and Putin see that other people who protect our interests have already appeared in our state, they will have to run to us. But as long as they see that Nikol Pashinyan and his team are illiterate, they make a daily mistake; of course, this should be the consequence. I do not rule out that Azerbaijan will launch a larger-scale attack.”
Roza HOVHANNISYAN
