YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan believes that the regional situation is such that Artsakh cannot ensure its security alone and on its own.

“The victory isn’t final, the defeat isn’t fateful,” the president said at a meeting with residents in Martakert. “What matters is to have the courage to go on. Over the course of 30 years we’ve had victory, which I will call a temporary success, because if victory isn’t a final one it can’t be a victory. We’ve had failures – it’s not a defeat, but we must find, re-discover ourselves, continue our struggle. The work we do today impacts not only our daily lives, our life and activity, but the fate of our children and generations.”

President Harutyunyan emphasized that the Russian military presence in Artsakh should be permanent, and not temporary.

“If the Russian troops hadn’t entered the region we would’ve had a very different fate. There are many stupid comments, some people will say different things just to justify themselves or blame others,” the president said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan