Yerevan /Mediamax/. Former Minister of Defense of Armenia Davit Tonoyan issued a statement today, in which he referred to the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement made at May 22 news conference that on November 9, 2020 he did not agree to sign the version of the trilateral statement, which mentioned the so-called “enclaves”.

David Tonoyan’s statement reads, in particular:

“As a result of a consultation held with the Prime Minister on the evening of November 9, 2020 he decided not to sign the November 9 version of the trilateral statement, at the same time instructing me, the Foreign Ministry and other agencies to convey his position to our Russian colleagues.

Before receiving the above-mentioned assignment, at around 6:30 p.m., Azerbaijan shot down a Russian helicopter from the Nakhichevan area. Due to the lack of complete information about the incident at that moment, I had a rather hard conversation with my Russian counterpart from the Prime Minister’s reception.

After it turned out that the helicopter had been shot down by Azerbaijan, during telephone conversations between me and my Russian colleague that lasted for about 4 hours we discussed the issues on “enclaves” hundreds of kilometers away from the conflict zone, the deployment of peacekeeping forces, the issue of remaining of Armenian forces in the positions they were at the moment the ceasefire entered into effect, the width of the Lachin corridor and other important issues. The final version of the agreed document, without mentioning the “enclaves,” was presented to the Armenian Prime Minister.

And to the question, regularly raised by the members of the National Assembly and journalists, why the  point that the Armenian troops would remain in the positions occupied as of November 9, 2020 was not fulfilled and why the issue of “enclaves” was not closed, I emphasize: what happened since November 20, 2020 – after my dismissal – in particular, the withdrawal of our units from the positions in Syunik, as well as the return of the issue of “enclaves” to the agenda, have nothing to do with the agreements I reached as the Minister of Defense of Armenia.

I can speak about other details only at the Investigative Committee of the National Assembly, and only on condition of the participation of the Prime Minister, in an open, public session – in terms of permitted – not to allow distortion of the facts by anyone in the future.”