Pashinyan 'gives account' of failed Moscow summit with former Armenia, Artsakh leaders  

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took to Facebook on Monday morning to elaborate on what he thinks accounted for the failure to hold a Moscow summit last month with the participation of former Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) leaders.

"On October 20, the second and third president of Artsakh - Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan - proposed organizing a meeting of former and current Armenian and Artsakh leaders 'as an expression of national solidarity'. And after certain discussions, I eventually gave my consent.

"We agreed that as soon as they gave a signal that the retired presidents of Armenia were ready, I would arrange the summit. At our next meeting though, Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan said "one delicate moment" had added to the idea, i.e. - [the first and second presidents of Armenia] Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan wanted to leave for Moscow for high-level talks, so our meeting would be arranged after their return to allow for kind of 'combining information'  to pave way for an informed discussion," the premier said, adding that he personally had not objection to the proposal.

"The retired presidents of Artsakh, however, raised another idea after my consent, stressing the necessity of my role as a broker asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan as special envoys. And I said I maintained permanent contact with the Russian president, having daily five to six telephone conversations with him. If he asks me 'what you have to say but cannot communicate directly and need to convey your message through special envoys', what am I expected to say then?  "

"The same question arose also with respect to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when the retired presidents of Artsakh asked the foreign minister to broker a meeting between Lavrov and our envoys. Our foreign minister was in permanent contact with Russia's minister of foreign affairs, and they were scheduling to hold a summit in Moscow.  If Lavrov asked our foreign minister the same, what was he supposed to answer? I proposed another option: arranging rapidly a protocol visit to Moscow by Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan as retired presidents to be hosted by Dmitry Medvedev, a retired president of the Russian Federation who also serves as a deputy director of the Russian Security Council. They could also attempt to to organize "meetings of politeness" with the Russian president, foreign minister and other high-ranking individuals.

"Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan left, promising to discuss that option with Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan. My proposal did not turn out to be of a particular interest to them. Quite unexpectedly for me, Bako Sahakyan stated that Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan had an arrangement to meet with Sergey Lavrov.

"What were they expecting me to do then? They could have left for Moscow to have the meeting. But Kocharyan's passport turned out to be in court. So I proposed submitting a motion as I could ask the prosecution not object to returning the passport. That's what actually happened. The court returned the passport, but Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharyan never departed for Moscow," Pashinyan said.