Russian Official Claims Pashinyan took the $5 billion offered to Serzh Sargsyan by Aliyev

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“My assumption is that the $5 billion was taken by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Therefore, as we are now finding out, he is also the main candidate of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the June 7 elections,” said Konstatin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the CIS Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma.”

“There were attempts to buy the regions around Nagorno-Karabakh. And the amount mentioned is well known – $5 billion for the regions around it — not for Karabakh, but the regions around it. And this topic was discussed, including at the highest level, with the participation of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Everyone was aware of it, because Lukashenko has always maintained close ties with Aliyev. And Lukashenko even later publicly stated that such an idea existed. I know that it was conveyed to the Armenian side. And that former Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan visited Karabakh and consulted with the Karabakh people. And at that time, at that stage, they said: ‘No. We will not give anything, we must stick to our position.’ With Serzh Sargsyan’s government negotiations on this topic were suspended, especially since no one promised that Azerbaijan would recognize Karabakh’s independence in the event of the sale of the outlying regions,” Zatulin said.

Zatulin continued: “But then Pashinyan came. How did he come? Why did Serzh Sargsyan, not being a stupid person at all, cede power to him? I have no personal grounds to accuse Serzh Sargsyan of anything. I respect him. He once awarded me the Order of Honor. I have talked to him and listened to his views on why this ‘velvet revolution’ took place. In my opinion, they do not stand up to any criticism. But it seems to me that, perhaps this is just an assumption, and I ask you to consider it that way; perhaps he felt that, taking into account that the matter is getting out of hand, Pashinyan should have been given the opportunity to act. He will do something, well, he will take unpopular measures. This problem will be solved, but not by Sargsyan personally. And then ‘the Moor has done his job, the Moor must leave.’”

Zatulin added: “The Moor, who is doing his job, has no intention of leaving. And all these thoughts, all these assumptions turned out to be false. And now we are faced with a completely different situation. This is my assumption: Nikol Pashinyan took that money. After all, as we now find out, he is the main candidate of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the parliamentary elections on June 7.”

According to Zatulin, Pashinyan thought: “Listen, if it is impossible to hand over the regions to Azerbaijan during peace negotiations, because it seems like betrayal, they were acquired with blood, but we can go another way. We can lose the war and give up those same regions, all of Karabakh, which I, Pashinyan, do not need.” “After all, what is the Prime Minister of Armenia saying now? He says that ‘Karabakh has always been a pressure ring around the body of Armenia.’ This is what he says. At first, he said: ‘Karabakh is Armenia, and that’s it,’ from 2018 to 2020, when he became prime minister. And now it’s a ‘pressure ring.’ So, which Pashinyan is telling the truth? The one in 18 or the current one?”

Zatulin noted: “He didn’t need Karabakh, because all his political opponents were from there. He didn’t need Karabakh, because they were suspicious of Pashinyan and the Velvet Revolution. He took advantage of the fact that there were complaints in Armenia that Karabakh people were stifling business, ‘that Karabakh people are everywhere,’ ‘they only appoint them,’ etc. A purely human envy of Karabakh people arose in Armenia. And Pashinyan took advantage of that. But I think he pocketed $5 billion or more. Because in that way he more than solved the problem that Azerbaijan and Turkey had set before them.”