Has Russia Betrayed Armenia? Kocharian's Response to Pozner's Question

The second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, responded to a question on the Russian First Channel's program "Pozner" regarding whether Russia has betrayed Armenia, stating that certain forces are trying to create an anti-Russian hysteria in Armenia.

"This topic has been raised for a long time, even before the war. Mostly, it is those forces that are dissatisfied with Armenia's pro-Russian orientation. Now a new situation has emerged, and the same forces are again doing everything possible to stir up anti-Russian sentiments. However, Russia was not the instigator of the war. Russia did everything possible to stop the war," Kocharian added.

He recalled Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal on October 19 to cease military operations on the condition of returning the Azerbaijani population to Shusha. According to Kocharian, there was a chance to end the war with a completely different arrangement, but Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not take responsibility for such a decision. As a result, Armenia lost much more than it would have lost had such a decision been made by October 19.

Responding to the question of how he generally feels about the fact that Russia supplied weapons to Azerbaijan, Kocharian stated: "If it weren't for Russia, Azerbaijan could have purchased weapons from other countries."