I Gave the Order to Withdraw: Pashinyan on the Withdrawal from the Syunik Borders

I have never denied that I am responsible for that decision; has there ever been anything like that? This was stated by Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in response to a question from Anna Grigoryan, a member of the 'Armenia' faction, regarding the withdrawal from the Syunik borders.

"My conviction was that if that decision had not been made, military operations would have begun there, and we would indeed have had problems in Syunik," he said. Pashinyan continued, stating that "... we were standing dozens of kilometers before that point, and we reached that place. That decision was also made with the understanding that during the negotiation discussions, there was an agreement that we needed to hand over 7 regions. Those territories were handed over because they were part of the 7 regions," he said, referring to the law on the administrative-territorial division of Armenia.

Responding to the lawmaker's remark that it turns out former Minister of Defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan gave the order to withdraw the troops, Pashinyan clarified that no: "I gave the order to withdraw. Vagharshak Harutyunyan carried out that order," he said, noting that the decision was made to avoid losing the strategically significant route at least for some time.