VIDEO. Russia Wants Artsakh Without Armenians, Says QP MP

First, we must understand what Azerbaijan wants from us. We have understood that Azerbaijan wants to ethnically cleanse Artsakh, keeping in mind the experience in Nakhchivan. This was stated by Gagik Melikyan, a member of the parliamentary faction of the Civil Contract Party (QP), in an interview with News.am.

According to him, some Russian analysts have stated that Artsakh is Azerbaijani territory and that Armenians who do not want to live there can go live in Armenia or elsewhere. "This is the dirty mentality of Russian analysts. The Russian-Azerbaijani campaign that has unfolded wants to ethnically cleanse Artsakh as well. They demanded that Ruben Vardanyan leave, and he did. They told the world, 'Look, Vardanyan has left, and we began negotiations, which took place under the mediation of Russian peacekeepers.' Azerbaijan has already raised the issue of integration, and they announced that this issue is being discussed. They are implementing the task of ethnically cleansing Artsakh, to which Russia is also helping. For Russia, Artsakh should be without Armenians. Azerbaijan also needs it to be without Armenians. Therefore, we must be able to urge the Armenian population of Artsakh not to leave, and we must also help them. We should also call on the Artsakh residents living in Armenia to go live in Artsakh. We should allocate funds to those who will return to Artsakh. We will stand by their side," announced Melikyan.

He did not rule out the possibility of new military operations in Artsakh. "As soon as Russian peacekeepers entered Artsakh, incidents began in Khndzoresk, where our boys were captured in the presence of Russian troops, along with the incidents in Parukh and others, when Azerbaijanis seized territories in the presence of Russians."