Armtimes.com website of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily newspaper related to RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's family published today an article under the headline "What does Russia want: For the information of His Holiness the patriarch, three presidents, and the expert community", where Russia's wishes and demands from Armenia are presented. The article is signed as "Reliable Source."

Below the publication is presented entirety, without editing.

"Russia's desires in our region fit into the chain of its global desires, and Armenia and Karabakh are part of that chain of desires.

What Russia wants from Armenia is almost the same as it wants from Ukraine, that is so that Armenia becomes part of the "Russia-Belarus" union state or Russia. And if in the case of Ukraine, the Russian Federation uses Russian and perhaps Belarusian troops for such a result, in the case of Armenia, it uses the Russian troops stationed in Azerbaijan and to some extent in Armenia.

The meaning of the actions is as follows: to show Armenia's security vulnerability, so that the latter applies to become a part of the "Russia-Belarus" union state. The steps to develop this logic are the aggressiveness of Azerbaijan, the inertness of the Russian troops stationed in Armenia, the political inertness of Russia, and the non-fulfillment of obligations to supply arms to Armenia. The use of the last tool is not accidental and has been used before, for example, before and after the 2016 war. Armenia should be as vulnerable as possible to embrace Russia as tightly as possible.

The case of Karabakh is also part of this, with a certain difference. Russia needs the non-resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, that is, that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue remains unresolved, as a lever of influence on both Armenia and Azerbaijan. This desire has been the cornerstone of the status quo established for decades in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and based on this cornerstone, it was possible to continue the negotiations indefinitely in Armenia's policy. This continued until 2011, from which Russia step by step came to the need to change the status quo.

Russia came to this conclusion not because it wants to settle the NK issue, but because it has begun to understand that it cannot maintain the status quo. One of the key reasons is the growing role of Turkey and the importance for Russia of Turkey's more or less balanced position during Russia's irreversible conflict with the West. The reason for the 44-day war should be sought here.

Also, in the conditions of a foreseeable or planned conflict with the West, when obviously the Western transport routes would be closed or at least put in doubt, it was extremely important for Russia to ensure the more or less normal operation of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus Straits (otherwise the Black Sea to Russia would become an ordinary lake), as well as providing a land connection to the West through Turkey.

The Russian-Georgia-Turkey route would not solve the problem of new land flows. Due to the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the roads passing through them would not be opened. Meanwhile, Verin Lars was working hard even before the Ukrainian conflict.

And therefore, the way to effectively solve this issue would be to use the Armenia-Azerbaijan axis.

This is the reason why the Lavrov plan of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue provided for the transfer of the southern regions to Azerbaijan so that the route of the Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway and highways would be freed from obstacles.

In this sense, despite public statements, Russia is the main beneficiary of the corridor through the territory of Armenia, because both Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Russia want a corridor through the territory of Armenia under the control of the Russian Federation. The last factor is essential because there is a highway through the territory of Iran. A railway can also be built through Iran.

The not-so-successful course of affairs in Ukraine has essentially aggravated the situation established after 2011 and Russia is finding it difficult to be the guarantor of the status quo established after 2020. Khtsaberd and Parukh are vivid evidence of this.

The role of Turkey and Azerbaijan has increased and now Azerbaijan can become a platform for the export of gas and oil from Russia to the EU.

It should be reminded that yesterday, on October 3, the website armtimes.com published another article named "What does Azerbaijan want: For the information of His Holiness the Patriarch, 3 presidents, and the expert community", where the five main demands of Azerbaijan from Armenia were presented.

The first president of RA, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, referred to the article, stating: "In fact, it is nothing but the Azerbaijani draft of the text of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty."

Bagrat Mikoyan, the head of RA ex-president Robert Kocharyan's office, also informed. "I do not comment on articles containing references to anonymous sources, even if it is published in an official's family newspaper."