Here are extracts from the interview of public figure and entrepreneur Ruben Vardanyan to Artsakh Public TV.

Who is who

I realized that there will always be people who will not believe, will be suspicious (of his decision to move to Artsakh - ed.). Some of them, to put it plainly, help Azerbaijan, understanding it or not. You see how aggressively their media reacts, what they write about me while some people here add fuel to their fire.

On the one hand, it is the reality that we have, but on the other hand, we should not be afraid, we should move forward, we should do our work, we should show with our actions who says what. I said, if someone has any question, let him come here to Artsakh, we will sit, talk, work, then it will be clear who thinks what, what he says and who he really is.

The neighbor state must understand

Our neighbor country must understand that they may like or dislike some things, but it is not up to them to decide.

My coming here inspires hope in the people living in Artsakh. I am sure that many people will come from Armenia and other places. They will come and stand by the people of Artsakh and say: we live here too. And that, of course, in some way changes the strategy of the neighbor state.

There’s a big game going on

My coming to Artsakh is an Armenian “project”. People need to understand and accept that people like me who have achieved some success and have connections in Russia, UK, the US, France or Singapore can be useful because there is a big game going on and the big players have their interests in our region. We have to work very seriously and very delicately.

Look how Erdogan acts. He tells Russia – we are allies, he tells Ukraine – Crimea is yours, he tells the US and Europe – I am a member of NATO, he enters into a war with Greece, improves relations with Israel. We must have our ideas, our strategy, understand what we are doing. Of course, we must build multi-vector relations.