Who is the Emotional Official that Met with the Azerbaijani Representative in an Arab Country and Delivered a Letter to Pashinyan

Political figure Aghvan Vardanyan raised a question to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a meeting with journalists on December 1 of this year: "Did high-ranking officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan meet in an Arab country in 2019, and did the Azerbaijani representative deliver a paper to the Armenian counterpart that listed an astronomical amount as an offer to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in favor of Azerbaijan? When our official reacted angrily, the counterpart politely said, ‘Do not get agitated, you are just required to pass this on to your leader.’ Did the Armenian official reply in equal agitation, saying, ‘Look at what the beasts are proposing,’ and did our country’s leader respond, ‘You are an emotional person, do not interfere, someone else will handle it’?

This controversial statement by Aghvan Vardanyan left the identity of the emotional official mentioned by Pashinyan unclear to the public. According to a source from the newspaper, this individual was Arthur Vanetsyan, who at that time held the position of Director of the National Security Service of Armenia. He was quite angry both when receiving the proposal and while relaying it to Pashinyan, and had a serious conversation with both sides. After these discussions, Vanetsyan was essentially sidelined from the process, and subsequent negotiations with the Azerbaijani side were conducted by one of Pashinyan's former advisors. It becomes increasingly clear why Arthur Vanetsyan called on Nikol Pashinyan to 'stand up' in his resignation announcement," the newspaper writes.