Robert Kocharyan: Pashinyan`s recognition of Artsakh as part of  Azerbaijan has relegated Russian peacekeepers to status of outside  observers

ArmInfo. The November 9, 2020, ceasefire agreement did not grant the Russian peacekeepers any mandate, and the Armenian Prime Minister's actions on the Artsakh  issue have relegated these peacekeepers to the status of outside  observers. This was stated by Robert Kocharyan, the second president  of Armenia and leader of the "Armenia" bloc, on the Public Television  of Armenia.

"There's a misconception about the contents of the November 9, 2020,  statement regarding the powers of Russian peacekeepers-they can and  can't use weapons, what they can and can't do. There was no UN  Security Council decision, and none of this was implemented in  accordance with Chapter 7 of the UN Security Council Charter, which  concerns the model for the use of force, so-called peace enforcement.  I get the impression that you either don't understand what happened  after the 44-day war, or you wouldn't have bothered to delve into  this issue," Kocharyan said, addressing the presenter's accusations  against Russia for failing to fulfill its mediation mission.

The politician stated that Azerbaijan, under pressure from Russia,  signed the statement, which was not about peace enforcement, but  about the deployment of peacekeepers between the parties with the  consent of Yerevan and Baku.

"But as soon as one of the parties withdraws from this statement, the  peacekeepers' functions simply cease.  That was the model. This  wasn't documented anywhere in the UN," the former Armenian president  said.

In response to the comment that Azerbaijan violated the agreements  and Russia did nothing, despite Russian leader Vladimir Putin signing  the statement, Kocharyan pointed out that the Azerbaijani side  violated the agreements only after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan on October 6,  2022, in Prague.

In response to the pro-government claim that Putin had allegedly done  this earlier, the former Armenian president retorted that Putin had  never spoken out against Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.  According to him, there was no need to do so. "So, the US didn't  recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity? Russia, the US, and  France (the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict - ed.) all recognized Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.  Artsakh was a self-determined people, whose right to recognition of  self-determination was in the process. This was the Minsk process,  and this was the Madrid principles. When Armenia unilaterally,  without notifying its partners, for example, Russia, recognizes  Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, this entire structure falls apart. The  entire Karabakh movement immediately turns into a separatist  movement, and the Artsakh Defense Army becomes an illegal armed  group.  Azerbaijan has already labeled it a terrorist group, and the  entire structure collapsed. The signature of one official brought the  entire structure down," Kocharyan emphasized.

Responding to the presenter's attempts to shift the blame for the  loss of Artsakh entirely onto the Russian side, whitewashing  Pashinyan, the former Armenian president once again emphasized that  Artsakh was on the path to international recognition of its  self-determination. According to him, this could have happened in a  year, or in five years, but Armenia's decision destroyed this entire  construct. "That's the problem.  Everyone recognized Azerbaijan's  territorial integrity, but everyone also said that the  self-determination process was ongoing.

This is a classic example of self-determination after a conflict. We  were in that process," Kocharyan said, adding that Russian  peacekeepers had no mandate to use force. He added that when one side  withdraws from the process, the peacekeepers become mere bystanders  in armored personnel carriers and armed with machine guns.

"They essentially had no mandate to use weapons. They had no other  authority, since Armenia had turned them into such a bystander. He  (Pashinyan - ed.) destroyed the entire structure that had maintained  this fragile situation, with just his signature," he said.

Responding to the comment that Russia and the CSTO failed to defend  Armenia when it was attacked in 2022, Kocharyan suggested looking  into the situation and asked whether Armenia itself had fought.   According to him, what does that mean when you declare you won't  fight for a mountain covered in snow for nine months? "When you spoil  relations within the CSTO, it means you're becoming an unreliable,  suspicious partner among the bloc's partners. It would be very good  if the CSTO were protected, but that's not the point. You did  everything to arouse suspicion among your partners," the politician  said.

To illustrate, he cited the example of US President Donald Trump  attacking Iran without notifying his NATO partners. Then, when he  found himself stuck, he asked the North Atlantic Alliance for help,  only to be refused, citing Trump's own disrespectful attitude. He  emphasized the unacceptability of making such documents absolute,  noting that states like Armenia must ensure that a superpower has no  reason to refuse to fulfill its obligations. The second president of  Armenia emphasized that he himself would have resolved the current  situation with a single phone call. Moreover, he emphasized that the  44-day war would not have occurred under his leadership, since it was  Armenia, led by Nikol Pashinyan, that provoked it.