Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan on Monday said that the November 9, 2020 agreement brokered by Russia to end the Artsakh war is “de-facto” dead, blaming the other signatories to the pact, Russia and Azerbaijan, for abandoning its principles.
The now infamous agreement was signed signed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev. Aliyev has accused Armenia of not adhering to provisions of the agreement, especially one that he interprets as mandating Armenia to open a land corridor connecting Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan through the strategic Syunik Province.
Official Yerevan has contended that while there are provisions within the Nov. 9, 2020 agreement that call for the opening of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there are not mentions of so-called “land corridors” in the wording.
Moscow last week complained that both Armenia and Azerbaijan had failed to comply with the agreement, especially as it relates to the opening of regional transportation routes.
Meanwhile opposition figures in Armenia, including former president, Robert Kocharian, and most recently the Armenia’s former ambassador at-large Edmon Marukyan, who heads the Bright Armenia party, once aligned with Pashinyan, have said that the only way to prevent Azerbaijan from invating Armenia was to adhere to the provisions of Nov. 9, 2020 agreement.
Grigorian, Armenia’s National Security Chief, in an interview with Azatutyun.am on Thursday, dismissed the opposition calls, saying that the events that transpired in Artsakh, prove that the document’s other provisions were not adhered to by the other signatories.
“Armenia was a party to the November 9 [ 2020 agreement] and we saw what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Grigoyian told Azatutyun.am.
“The November 9 [agreement] also has at least eight other articles and we saw what happened to those eight articles,” he said, clearly alluding Azerbaijan’s September 2023 brutal attack on Artsakh that forced the displacement of its Armenian population.
“How can anyone, whether they are a politician or not, fail to accept the reality of what happened to those eight articles and say that we must return to it for the sake of a single article? We can return and repeat the same path,” Grigoryan added.
“The de facto reality is that none of the other articles of the November 9 statement exists now,” the national security chief said.
Grigoryan on Thursday also echoed remarks by Pashinyan, who a day earlier had ordered the creation of a commission to review and significantly overhaul Armenia’s national security strategy.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Grigoryan said that the need for a new national security strategy is predicated by major changes that have taken place in Armenia’s security environment.
Grigoryan did not elaborate on the areas where changes will be made, noting that up to this point the main discussions have been related to the working procedure and regulations.
“Major changes occurred around Armenia after the previous national security strategy was prepared and published in the summer of 2020, and given the dynamics of those changes, we have waited for some time. After some clarifications, we have decided to develop a new national security strategy,” Grigoryan said.
He noted that the meetings will convene in the near future. “The entire process will be public. The public will definitely be aware of the work on the formation of the strategy,” Grigoryan said.
