Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his administration has thwarted attempts by the former “Karabakh pseudo-elite” to undermine statehood and draw Armenia into renewed conflict.

He accused what he described as the “Karabakh pseudo-elite” of seeking to influence domestic politics and destabilize the country, while announcing plans to disclose lists of their lavish assets in Armenia and pursue confiscation under stolen asset recovery mechanisms.

Pashinyan also said the government plans to allocate around 800 billion drams (over $2 billion) over the next decade to support housing programs for displaced people from Karabakh in Armenia, who he said had been held hostage by the “pseudo-elites.”

Pashinyan was asked to clarify his recent controversial “Why didn’t you die?” remark.

“My remarks were addressed to the Karabakh pseudo-elite and their associated circles. They fled under the leadership of Samvel Shahramanyan, and now they have come back and are trying to drag the people of Armenia into war again,” he said, referring to the last leader of Karabakh before the Azerbaijani takeover in 2023.

“The so-called pseudo-elite of Karabakh will be uprooted from the Republic of Armenia. Today they have come and are speaking about the Karabakh issue… they must explain where they have been, what they have done other than fleeing—nothing,” he said.

“This rhetoric does not refer to those who could have died and did not, but to those who chose not to die under any circumstances. In my son’s case, his trench comrades were killed by a shell. My family was in Karabakh, and this has become the subject of much discussion. The Karabakh pseudo-elites, who have fled every time, have now returned and are trying to drag Armenia back into conflict. They have also kept the people of Karabakh hostage, with one goal—to undermine Armenia’s statehood, including through a corridor via Meghri. We have thwarted all those plans.

There was a plan, led by [ex-president] Robert Kocharyan, to hand over Meghri and Syunik, which has been published. The October 27 attack was carried out for the implementation of that plan, and I am proud that I have thwarted it,” Pashinyan said.

The October 27 terrorist attack in 1999 killed then-Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and Speaker Karen Demirchyan, as well as several other high-ranking officials and legislators, during Kocharyan’s presidency.

According to Pashinyan, all representatives of the Karabakh pseudo-elite must explain why they were not on the front line and why they fled during the war.

“There is a list of all those who fled. In the near future, we will publish lists of the assets of the Karabakh pseudo-elite in the Republic of Armenia so that the picture becomes clear. Today, they are preventing our people from Karabakh from settling down. We plan to allocate 800 billion drams over the next 10 years so that these people can eventually settle, calm down, and move beyond the mentality of wanderers and migrants. However, a small group of runaway pseudo-elite does not want to leave the people in peace; therefore, the activity of this pseudo-elite must be neutralized. Through the system of confiscation of illegal assets, we will take away those dozens and hundreds of houses one by one; this will definitely happen in the near future. That is why I am asking for a mandate from the people of Armenia and [displaced persons] from Karabakh,” Pashinyan said.