We Had Dinner with Serzh Sargsyan Last Night, We Do Not Discuss Political Issues: Balasanyan

Some people have the impression that the meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and Vitaly Balasanyan is a criminal act. This was stated by the former Secretary of the Security Council of the Artsakh Republic and national hero Vitaly Balasanyan during a press conference held in Artsakh, responding to a question about how often he meets with the third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan.

“I meet with everyone. We have traveled a road with both Serzh Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Serzh Sargsyan's mother lives in Artsakh; he can stay in Artsakh for 7 or 10 days, and during that time, we may meet one or two times. We meet as a group with our combat comrades. Honestly, when Nikol Pashinyan came to power, when I first met Serzh Sargsyan, he told me and the others, ‘You will do everything to not confront Armenia, and you must keep the relationships warm.’ At no time has Serzh Sargsyan or Robert Kocharyan been able to guide me,” he emphasized.

Balasanyan added that Serzh Sargsyan is currently in Stepanakert. “We had dinner yesterday evening, and we did not discuss any political issues. We do not discuss any political questions during our meetings; we have lunch or dinner and talk about the past, about the mistakes we made back in ’91-’94, what the resolution of the Karabakh issue should be like. We do not talk about any current events in Armenia; those conversations do not correspond to reality,” he stressed.