Call Pegov and ask where he bases his statements, Davit Babayan says

WarGonzo program author Semyon Pegov recently claimed that he has evidence proving that Shushi was not taken through military means. He stated that soldiers of the Artsakh Defense Army were present in Shushi and were even prepared to advance on the night of November 9. According to him, around 5 AM, hundreds of soldiers were ready to assist those in Shushi in cleansing the city of Azerbaijani groups, but they received a command to retreat.

In an interview with ArmDaily.am, Davit Babayan, advisor to the President of Artsakh, said he was unaware of Pegov's statement: “We lost about 300 people in Shushi; now go and calculate yourselves what happened. I shouldn't say whether we surrendered or not. There should be a special commission for that. We were here, and every day hundreds of shells rained down on Stepanakert. Now what should I say, what does it mean to surrender or not? Call Pegov and ask him where he bases his statements. If there is a basis, then a commission should be established to understand whether that person is telling the truth or not.”

Referring to discussions on Facebook about Azerbaijan officially announcing shortly after the end of the war on November 16 that it had restored electricity in Shushi, while the Karvachar region remains fully without power, leaving people in darkness, Babayan noted: “I cannot answer that question; it should be clarified by the electricity distribution company. Perhaps the Azerbaijanis have already laid a line; I do not know. It is not for me to say how electricity is coming.”

Regarding the complaints from residents of the Vasgenashen community in the Martuni region about not being forewarned to leave their community, and how when they wished to return, Azerbaijanis took a father and son hostage, Babayan said he could not answer those questions: “I am not the president's press secretary; call him. I am the advisor on foreign affairs.”

It should be noted that the press secretary of the President of Artsakh, Vahe Poghosyan, has been unresponsive to our messages and calls.