Pashinyan 'failed to present' Armenian agenda at Moscow summit, says Heritage party's leader

No Armenian agenda was presented at the Moscow summit, with Azerbaijan continuing to dictate its policy actions of an aggressor, the opposition Heritage party's leader said today, commenting on Prime Minister Nikol Pashuinyan's meeting with the Russian and Azerbaijani leaders.

Speaking to Tert.am, Narine Dilbaryan also expressed regret that Armenia all the time "loses the opportunity to present our counter-approaches."

"The analysis made and the concerns voiced in the runup to Pashinyan's visit came to affirm that the authorities need to develop an agenda to negotiate plans for unblocking the transport routes and  making the region attractive to investors only after the return of prisoners of war (POWs) and the persons being held hostage. How can a region be possibly attractive to investors when one of the states has captured more than 100 individuals, refusing to return them despite the agreement signed and resorting to blackmail in an effort to grasp more opportunities and to resolve its own problems," she added.

Dilbaryan also agreed to the repeatedly voiced calls for changing the Armenian side's negotiator in the process, considering the proposal an important step for overcoming the "defeatist psychology" to push ahead with Armenian interests.

"Definitely," she said, "I see not only a defeatist but also an absolutely passive posture, which is simply inexplicable to me. How can we possibly wait all the time until Russia moves to resolve our problems instead of us in the status of a mediator? That's a deep and very dangerous delusion. Mediators normally follow the processes to plan their actions depending on the heavy side of the scale," she noted.

Referring to the joint statement requiring the sides to present a "list of projects" until March 1, Dilbaryan questioned the idea behind the proposal for resolving the transport communication issue on the level of special groups or subgroups. In her words, the status of Karabakh, the return of POWs and hostages, as well as the peaceful co-existence of nations appear to be more serious concerns than the unblocking of highways or economic communication channels.

According to the poltician, the statement reflects the myth of creating a "happy" region, an idea which she said would be simply unfeasible without tangible steps towards resolving the status of Karabakh.

"Our negotiator keeps track of events that are formed by the powerful sides. How can such a government possibly remain in power, counting on Russia to resolve our problem?" she asked.