Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan categorically denied the accusations that he alone and without taking into account the opinion of the people of Nagorno Karabakh will decide the fate of the region. The head of the government emphasized that all key decisions were taken exclusively after detailed consultations with Karabakh representatives. He also commented on the scandalous video with the participation of his former party member and answered questions about the current national security strategy.

In the briefing following the government session on March 26, the journalists touched on a number of acute topics. Answering the question of how he could make fatal decisions regarding Karabakh without representing the interests of its people, Pashinyan stated: “Basically, all the decisions I made before were consulted with the representatives of Karabakh. There was no such decision that I made without consulting the representatives of Karabakh.” At the same time, the prime minister distanced himself from the recent decisions of the authorities of the unrecognized republic, stating that he learned about them later and emphasizing the absence of Armenia’s role in those processes.

Speaking about the Prague agreements of 2022, Pashinyan described as absurd the situation when Armenia had to recognize its territorial integrity. According to him, this decision has become the most important step on the way to overcome the “greatest conspiracy against the statehood of Armenia”.

The Prime Minister also commented on the publication of a video recording of the meeting of the “Civil Contract” party’s board in pro-government media, where he communicates in a harsh style with Hakob Aslanyan, a former member of the team. The journalists asked if this is not a message to the teammates that there are kompromats and the government is ready to use them. Pashinyan denied these assumptions, calling the publication a manifestation of intra-party democracy. “Democracy is for this purpose, to show the stupidity among them,” he said, emphasizing the transparency and competitive nature of the processes within the ruling power.

At the end of the briefing Nikol Pashinyan admitted that the current national security strategy of Armenia has largely lost its relevance. He informed that currently the country does not actually have an effective strategy, but the government is already working on the creation of a document that meets the new, modern challenges.

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