Surrender of territories is purely voluntary decision, military analyst says

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian military analyst Alexey Leonkov commented on the discussion around Armenia’s planned surrender of four villages to Azerbaijan.

“I believe that the policy that Pashinyan is pursuing leads to the dissolution of statehood in Armenia. Because the surrender (of the territories) does not have some objective reasons that have developed historically. I’d rather say it is a purely voluntary decision, just like the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Armenians had lived for several hundred years. There is, so to speak, a lot of evidence of this. Having started once, Pashinyan will go further. He will surrender the territories under the pretext of ensuring security. He surrendered these four villages and will also surrender Syunik under the pretext of ensuring security and strengthening defense capabilities.

However, we understand that these are words. Armenia is not able to wage full-scale wars even with its neighbors. Too few financial and other opportunities. Armenia depends on a strong ally. Only by having a strong ally can Armenia allow itself to say something. When there is no such ally, it is doomed to defeat,” the expert said.

“If this territory was included in the Republic of Armenia, then why are they giving it away so easily? Why was it included then? There are many questions here. In the general context, Armenia is tearing away piece by piece of the land that it considered its own for some time and is receiving nothing in return. Unequal exchange.

It gives up a piece of territory because Azerbaijan will allegedly behave in a friendly manner, although an agreement, a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is not even signed. How can you rely on anything here? These are mere words without any basis. So, you give up part of the territory for words, for promises. Whatever it is,” Leonkov concluded.