Armenian authorities continue to ignore the fate of Armenian prisoners and detained leaders of Artsakh – Konstantin Zatulin

The Armenian authorities have ignored and continue to ignore the fate of Armenian prisoners, including the captured leaders of Artsakh, Konstantin Zatulin, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, told Alpha News.

“The Armenian authorities do not recall or raise this issue anywhere during the negotiations. We do not hear, we do not know anything about this, but on the contrary, we hear that the current Armenian government is interested in these people—patriots of their land—remaining in prison in Azerbaijan and not interfering with their treacherous policy towards their compatriots. If all this is happening, then why make claims to Russia?” the politician said.

According to him, in 2020, Russia offered to stop the war, but the Armenian leader “passed by this proposal, counting on some other options.” “In the end, Russia brought its peacekeeping mission, but behind the back of this peacekeeping mission, while in Western capitals, the Armenian Prime Minister recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, and from that moment on, the presence of our peacekeepers lost all meaning. What were they supposed to do there if this is all an internal matter for Azerbaijan? Regulate traffic? No one gave them any mandate… So we ended up in a very foolish, shameful situation. Yes, we had our own mistakes, I am sure that this is a subject for future discussion; I certainly cannot support shifting the blame to others. First of all, demonstrate your determination, say what you want, and do not play these games that Mr. Pashinyan has been playing all this time, trying to avoid responsibility, first of all, responsibility towards his own people,” he noted.