YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Not going to the step on ending the war in Artsakh would lead to much more losses and casualties, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said live on Facebook, adding that that decision was made based on the analysis, assessments of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the President of Artsakh.

“The biggest guilt attributed to me is that I agreed to hand over Aghdam, Lachin, Karvachar to Azerbaijan. In fact, that episode is not about handing over, but about keeping, because that document has been signed in a situation when Shushi was fallen, when, in fact, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia was reporting that the resources were in quite a problematic situation. The political leadership of Artsakh was also sharing this view. What would happen if it was not signed? That document gave what we couldn’t keep at that situation according to military and non-military assessments. We had a situation when Stepanakert was left defenseless”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

According to him, if the military operations continued, there was a great probability that the Azerbaijani forces would have captured Stepanakert, Martuni, Askeran, the defense regions with soldiers would have appeared in blockade. A total collapse would have taken place. He said that decision was made based on this.

He said the video messages addressed by soldiers from the frontline are not coincidence because they are supporting the decision made, because they have seen and understood the situation, no matter how painful it was.

“At that moment we had a situation when Stepanakert was under a direct threat. Thousands of soldiers would have appeared in blockade, and as a result we would have lost what we have which is enshrined in that document”, he noted.

As for the rumors on the fall of Shushi, the conspiracies around Shushi, the Armenian PM said after the fall of Shushi attempts were made twice for returning it, the one was failed, and during the other one a squad managed to enter the city. Although, he said, a situation has not changed greatly. Pashinyan said all these contradictions were connected with this.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan