Retired Russian official makes revelations about secret meetings  before de-Armenianization of Artsakh 

ArmInfo. Retired senior adviser to the Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Ananyev made some  revelations about the events in Artsakh in 2023 and the secret meetings that took place in the pre-war period. Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the opposition faction "I Have the Honor" of the Armenian Parliament, wrote about this on his Facebook page, publishing a video with Ananyev's remarkable statements.

The latter noted that in September 2023, 2-3 days before the start of  hostilities in Artsakh, representatives of Russia, the USA and the EU  met in Turkey. According to him, Russia tried to prevent the  escalation planned by Azerbaijan, but the United States was against  it.

According to the Russian diplomat, the Armenian authorities knew  about the expected actions of Azerbaijan, but they were ordered to  declare that Armenia would not react to this process in any way.

"I would like to note right away that Ananyev's assertion that Russia  tried to prevent escalation in no way justifies Russia's failure to  stop a full-scale war against Artsakh or to stop it at an earlier  stage. As for the Armenian authorities, they admitted at the highest  level that they want to transfer Artsakh in 2018, so everything  regarding them was clear long ago.  

In general, international players, each under their own share of  responsibility, have not taken any serious steps to prevent the  blockade of Artsakh, contain Azerbaijan and prevent the forced  displacement of Artsakh Armenians," Abrahamyan noted.  According to  the deputy, now everyone is trying to justify themselves, shift  responsibility onto each other, and create the impression that they  are fighting to restore the rights of the people of Artsakh or  eliminate humanitarian problems. "In fact, it was with their  permission and tacit agreement that Azerbaijan first took large-scale  actions against Artsakh in 2020, in 2021-22 it already resorted to  aggression against Armenia, and in 2023 it completely occupied  Artsakh by force," the deputy concluded.