We Do Not Have 5000 Casualties: Nikol Pashinyan

As before and after the war, the external security system of Armenia has not changed; it has primarily relied on having a joint Armenian-Russian military group and air defense system. This was stated by Nikol Pashinyan during his closing speech at a special session of the Parliament.

Regarding the security of Syunik, Pashinyan announced that two new outposts of the Russian 102nd military base have been established in Syunik, which serves as an additional guarantee for the security of the Syunik province and, in general, for the security of Armenia.

He noted that Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has been excluded from the negotiation process by the Armenian side for the sake of power: "At that time, Armenia could have said, 'I will not negotiate without Artsakh,' and nothing would have happened. Did the war fall from the sky on September 27, 2020? What happened in April 2016? What went on in that prelude?" he said.

Pashinyan also addressed the accusations directed at him: "Is it normal for political convenience to say '5000 or 7000 people were taken and massacred'? We do not have 5000 casualties. The war did not pass by my family; my son was in the war in the place where we suffered the highest number of casualties, he was attached to the body of a deceased soldier, that is a verifiable fact. We fought just as desperately as our people once fought on the field of Avarayr, and there are dozens of such examples. We fought; my family was involved in that fight. No one can claim that I have done anything, even a millimeter more for my son's safety than for the safety of other tens of thousands of children. I have said from this podium that we are the descendants of Vardan Mamikonian and Aram Manukyan. Perhaps our mistake was that we did not take over the powers of Aram Manukyan, who said to those who were panicking at the front line, 'Leave, come on, what are you doing at the government building...'. Had we had that authority, we would have executed them against the walls..."