Armenia was forced to sign an agreement to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh to avoid a military collapse. This was announced live on Wednesday by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his Facebook page.
"If the fighting had continued, there would have been a very high probability that Stepanakert, Martuni and Askeran would have fallen. Subsequently, thousands of our soldiers could have been surrounded, i.e. there would have been a collapse. We had to sign this agreement," he said.
According to the head of the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers, the decision was made after the recommendations of the General Staff and the leadership of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the complete cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Russian leader said, in particular, that the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would remain in their occupied positions and that Russian peacekeepers would be deployed in the region.
Representatives of the Armenian Defense Ministry and General Staff said on Tuesday that the country's armed forces would implement the agreements and called on the people to refrain from actions destabilizing the situation in the country. Armenian President Armen Sargsyan announced the start of political consultations to discuss the situation after the signing of the agreement on the Karabakh conflict settlement.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia
Based on materials from TASS