The goal of the de-Armenianization of Artsakh was the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region: Tigran Kocharyan

The process of building distrust toward the Russian peacekeepers and creating tension around their activities was aimed at removing the Russian military presence from Armenia and the region, Tigran Kocharyan, media expert and editor-in-chief of Alpha News, said at Alpha Media Centre during the panel discussion “Deliberate pivot: Armenia’s future in the CSTO and the fate of the November 9 agreement.”

According to him, after the 2020 war, the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh to some extent disrupted existing geopolitical plans, after which a campaign to stir up distrust toward them began.

“When Russia ended up in Artsakh after November 9, it somewhat upset their plans, and they began working in a different direction. Distrust toward the Russian peacekeepers was artificially instilled. Every mistake and oversight by the peacekeepers was blown out of proportion, and everything was done to create tension,” Kocharyan said.

In his assessment, when it became impossible to achieve the desired result this way, a decision was made to move to a more radical plan: the de-Armenianization of Artsakh.

“There was only one goal: to withdraw Russian troops from the territory of Artsakh. And unfortunately, they succeeded,” the media expert said.