Robert Kocharyan says there are reasonable grounds to assume the Karabakh defeat was pre-planned

Panorama, Armenia
March 4 2021

Armenia's former President Robert Kocharyan insists there are serious grounds to assume the defeat in the recent 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh was pre-planned by Armenian authorities. Kocharyan's remarks came during an interview with Russian media outlets held on Thursday in Yerevan.  

"Both during the war and especially after the military actions, seasonable suspicions arose concerning the actions of the authorities and the prime minister, personally," Kocharyan said, adding numerous questions about the war and its outcome remained unanswered. 

“Why on the third day of the war the mobilization, which implies the replenishment of the active armed forces, was stopped? Why didn’t the prime minister accept the Russian president’s proposal on October 19? Meanwhile, on the fourth day of the war, he already knew that the war would be lost. He had a written conclusion from the General Staff that the war that was being waged would definitely be lost. These are not just empty statements – this is a report on a crime that the prosecutor’s office and investigative bodies should deal with”, – Kocharyan named some of the unanswered questions. 

The former president also questioned the decision by Armenia's current leaders to remove number of experienced military commanders before the war.