Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan slammed Artsakh’s exiled leaders in Yerevan for continuing to present themselves as a government in exile and threatened to crack down on them for jeopardizing Armenia’s national security. He said this at his cabinet’s weekly meeting on Thursday.
Pashinyan said actions taken by “some circles forcibly displaced” from Artsakh “are voluntarily or involuntarily taking steps that threaten Armenia’s national security.” He repeatedly stressed that “there can be no government in Armenia apart from the government of Armenia.”
The PM called on Armenia’s security services to be prepared to take “appropriate measures” to prevent unnamed “external forces” from using these circles “to create threats to Armenia’s national security.”
The PM said such actions against the Armenian state, which already cross the respectful-disrespectful line and get a different logic, cannot remain unanswered by Armenia. He did not elaborate further.
The warning was addressed to the exiled Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan. In an interview with France’s Le Figaro daily published on Wednesday, Shahramanyan said that all of Artsakh’s bodies continue to formally operate after their exile from Artsakh along with the country’s entire ethnic Armenian population last September. He said, “This building where I am receiving you houses the presidential, legislative, and judicial offices of Artsakh,” adding, “Lawmakers can meet here to vote.”
Shahramanyan reiterated that his September 28 decree dissolving the NKR is not valid. He said that he had to sign the decree to enable the Artsakh Armenians to safely flee to Armenia amid an Azerbaijani military offensive.
Pashinyan’s political allies lashed out at the Artsakh leader in late December when he first declared the decree null and void. They accused him of putting Armenia’s national security at serious risk.
Pashinyan has reportedly refused to meet Shahramanyan and other Artsakh leaders since they took refuge in Armenia. He has repeatedly indicated that the Artsakh issue is closed for his administration. His critics say that he is afraid of angering Azerbaijan.
Earlier this week, Shahramanyan, who generally keeps a low profile, attended the screening in Yerevan of a Russian film about the war in Ukraine organized by the Russian Embassy in Armenia. Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin described people attending the event as Russia’s friends.
