Pashinyan’s Lies in the Kremlin: Who Really Handed Over Artsakh, and Who Will Be Held Accountable, Nikol?

Following the recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Kremlin… for some reason, his father, Vova Pashinyan, came to mind — a man who once publicly expressed hope that Armenians would one day manage to elect a more clever… wiser… more reasonable leader than his son. What we see today… Armenians did not want to look deeper… did not want to think… and instead elected a demagogic, loudmouth leader — a man whose power rests on artificially fueled Russophobia, sustained by Western hirelings.

Pashinyan has a strong instinct… he skillfully wriggles, dodges, and evades. It must be admitted that his experience as an editor of a tabloid proved very useful to him.

He traveled to Moscow ahead of the elections with a single goal — to run a PR campaign, to show voters in Yerevan — who remain short-sighted — that he has everything under control, even in Moscow.

However, Vladimir Putin did not become a supporting actor in Pashinyan’s electoral campaign — neither directly nor indirectly. Quite the opposite: the Russian leader sharply emphasized the risks and threats facing Armenia and Armenians as a result of Nikol Pashinyan’s impulsive, hasty actions, devoid of any strategic calculation.

So the Armenian prime minister resorted to his usual tools — emotional, blatant lies and a stream of self-satisfied bravado.

Pashinyan was clearly unsettled when Putin raised the Karabakh issue as an important and pressing matter for Russia — while Pashinyan himself had already handed over that once-Armenian region to Azerbaijan.

Artsakh, betrayed by him, is the last thing Pashinyan wants to speak about during the election period. Yet he still managed to make statements, as if running on fumes:

“We have not been able to explain to the Armenian people… why the CSTO did not intervene in the situation in Karabakh…”

This raises several counter-questions to Nikol Pashinyan — questions he ought to answer.

Here they are — real, strictly formulated questions, not rhetorical ones:

• Can you explain to the Armenian people why your authorities arrested CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov — appointed during Armenia’s rotating CSTO presidency — right before the war?
• If you relied on CSTO assistance, Pashinyan, why did you decapitate it in advance? Why did you deprive the country of its key ally at such a critical moment?
• Pashinyan, have you explained why you disrupted the negotiation process with your statements in Stepanakert and publicly threatened Aliyev with a revolution orchestrated by Europe?
• Pashinyan, why did you declare “Artsakh is Armenia, period!” only to later abandon the region under pressure from Baku’s Western partners?
• Pashinyan, why did your partner mock refugees from Artsakh who lost their homeland because of your decisions?
• Pashinyan, why did the illegitimate president from London legitimize the pseudo-revolution of 2018? What role did British structures play in fueling Russophobia in Armenia?
• Pashinyan, why did you publicly thank Kutoyan for the “velvet revolution” in May 2018, fully aware of his ties to the former regime and the information he held about you?
• Pashinyan, why does Serzh Sargsyan — whom you claim to have overthrown — still receive money from the state budget, while his associates remain within your government?
• Pashinyan, where are the billions of dollars lent to you by global structures? Who received those funds? The people? Of course not.
• Pashinyan, why did you refuse to defend Shushi? Why did you later call it a “dark and unhappy” town after handing it over to Azerbaijan?

• Pashinyan, why did you turn to Russia for mediation only on the 33rd day of the 44-day war?
• Pashinyan, why did you fail the arms procurement program for the Armenian army and spend funds on useless fighter jets without ammunition?
• Pashinyan, can you explain how you agreed with Europe to ultimately hand over Artsakh?
• Pashinyan, how did you trigger the September 2022 war in alleged coordination with Aliyev?
• Pashinyan, why did you fail to fulfill your constitutional duties in September 2022, when Azerbaijan attacked Syunik, Gegharkunik, and Vayots Dzor?
• Pashinyan, why did you not declare martial law or full mobilization?
• Pashinyan, why did you create the appearance of external causes for defeat when the key decisions were initiated by you personally?
• Pashinyan, why did you and Serzh Sargsyan simultaneously promote the thesis “Divide for salvation” on October 15 and 20, 2020? Was this coordination or a coincidence?

• Pashinyan, how did nearly $1.2 billion in irrecoverable debt accumulate in the budget and investment fund on the eve of Artsakh’s collapse?
• Pashinyan, why were loans to companies affiliated with influential business groups and the Artsakh Fund written off, with no public accounting of their return to the state budget?
• Pashinyan, why has no one within your government initiated a transparent investigation into these financial decisions? Why must the people bear the consequences of your policies?
• Pashinyan, why was no one held financially accountable during the handover of Artsakh and the change of power in Stepanakert? Why did the parliament remain silent?

Each of these questions is a heavy blow to his vanity. They form a mirror in which Pashinyan can see the consequences of his own words and actions.

Armenian society has once again become the victim of a demagogue — a man of spectacle, shouting, and populism; a man who confuses governance with PR, and the people with an applauding crowd.

How many generations must suffer? How much bloodshed, loss, and humiliation is required before it becomes clear that leadership is a responsibility — not a stage for performance?