Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharian Did Not Travel to Moscow, Says Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made a post on his Facebook page stating that on October 20, the former presidents of Artsakh, Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, proposed to organize a meeting of current and former leaders of Armenia and Artsakh, which would express national unity during the wartime. After some discussion, I agreed. We agreed that when they signal that the former presidents of Armenia are ready, I would organize the meeting.

During our next meeting, Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan indicated that there was a nuance added to the idea: Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharian wanted to go to Moscow to have high-level meetings there, and our meeting would be organized after their return and would somehow serve as a venue for coordinating information and discussing the situation more informedly.

I said I was not opposed to the idea and even offered to provide a state airplane for them to travel, meet, and return. However, after my agreement, the former presidents of Artsakh raised another question. They said that it was necessary for me to mediate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharian as special envoys.

I responded as follows: I am in constant contact with the Russian president. On some days, I talk to him five or six times on the phone. Now if he asks me, 'What do you have to say that you cannot tell me directly, and you want to communicate through special envoys?' what should I reply?

The same question arose in the case of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when the former presidents of Artsakh stated that our Foreign Minister should also mediate with Lavrov to accept our special envoys. Our Foreign Minister is in constant contact with the Russian Foreign Minister, and a meeting is scheduled for them in Moscow. If Lavrov poses the same question to our Foreign Minister, what should he respond?

I suggested an alternative: to quickly organize a protocol visit for Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharian to Moscow as former presidents, where they would be the guests of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, and during the visit try to arrange courteous meetings with the Russian President, the Foreign Minister, and other high-ranking officials.

Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan departed, promising to discuss this option with Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharian. It turned out that my proposed option was not very interesting for them. Bako Sahakyan unexpectedly declared that Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharian already had an arrangement to meet Sergey Lavrov.

If that’s the case, what do they want from me? If they are agreed, they should go to Moscow and meet. It turned out that the issue was Robert Kocharian's passport, which was in the court. I said to file a request to the court, and I would ask the prosecution not to object to the return of the passport. This is how it proceeded. The court returned Kocharian’s passport, but Ter-Petrosyan and Kocharian still did not travel to Moscow.