The task of the Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh was to protect the interests of the civilian population, Alexey Zhuravlev, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, said.
According to Zhuravlev, thousands of people were evacuated with the help of the Russian peacekeepers, and hundreds received medical assistance. “It is only thanks to the Russian military that a major humanitarian disaster did not happen,” the official added.
According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a phased reconciliation scheme to Yerevan and Baku, which all parties had agreed to, but Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan changed his mind from sticking to the developed plan, and he himself announced the transfer of the region to Baku’s jurisdiction. “Thus, the implications that the Russian troops betrayed Armenians are not true in this regard. If there was a traitor, it was only their prime minister,” the politician noted.
