Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned on Thursday that the country could face an imminent war if some opposition forces, whom he described as being controlled from abroad, win the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Pashinyan said, without mentioning specific parties, that certain groups seek to “revise” the recently established peace.

At a press briefing, the Prime Minister said he expects his Civil Contract party to garner enough votes to form a parliamentary majority, which would allow the processes underpinning regional peace to become fully irreversible.

“We expect to achieve a constitutional majority as a result of these elections because that is what will guarantee that, particularly in the context of regional peace, we make the processes fully irreversible,” the Prime Minister said.

Without naming anyone, Pashinyan accused certain opposition forces of preparing a new war with Azerbaijan. He stated that some of these forces do not even understand what statements they are making, as at least some of their statements are written elsewhere, and they are merely reading them.

“These parties and circles first say that they are not against peace, and secondly, they say that if they come to power, they will start revising peace. Very directly, without any embellishment, I want to say that this is war—for Armenia, it would mean not only the loss of territory but also the loss of sovereignty.

Some of them, apparently, do not even understand what they are saying, because it is obvious to me that the texts they recite—at least some of them—are written elsewhere, and they are merely reading them. Moreover, forces and politicians who do not understand what they are saying should, of course, not be able to aspire for any official status in Armenia.

All these forces take positions of revising peace, which, given this fact, inevitably means war, likely soon after the elections, and at the latest by autumn. I am analyzing the texts and what they say, aren’t I? All these forces, if necessary, I can even name clearly. I assume that some of them do not even understand what they are saying, but they are preparing a new September war—with serious consequences,” the Prime Minister concluded.

In response to a follow-up question about why these forces want to trigger a new war, Pashinyan said:

“The goal is very simple: their aim is to keep Armenia in a peripheral state, as it was during their time in power. They see that Armenia has become independent and have a problem with that because they are determined not to allow Armenia to be independent. Yesterday or the day before, I saw some pictures saying ‘Strong Peace,’ or headlines saying, ‘Forgive us, Artsakh, we will do… whatever.’ What is all this about? It is about subjecting peace to revision, and any attempt to revise peace is war—immediately. Or they say, ‘Ararat is ours,’ ‘Dadivank is ours.’ That is war!”

Responding to a question about what these forces would gain from a war, Pashinyan emphasized that they would gain the status of leaders of an outpost, not a country, because history has shown this to be financially profitable for them.

“They will also preserve the billions they have in certain countries because they were told: if you don’t solve the problem, what is formally registered in your name will no longer exist. These main forces—the three who operate from that position—have billions in Russia and Belarus. Now they have been told: if you want to keep that wealth, work hard, sweat, run, stretch yourself, do 30 push-ups. They won’t be able to; I don’t see anyone there who could do 30 reps or ride a bicycle 100 kilometers,” Pashinyan said.