Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan gave an interview to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, in which he talked about his talks with Vladimir Putin and made another controversial statement on Karabakh. Pashinyan again stated that he is the president of Armenia and cannot speak on behalf of the Karabakh separatists.

'I am the Prime Minister of Armenia and I am ready to participate in these negotiations on behalf of the Republic of Armenia. But I cannot speak on behalf of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh do not participate in the formation of government in Armenia. They have their own government, their president. Karabakh should be represented by a legitimate representative who has a mandate to represent this people. This does not mean that we refuse negotiations, we are ready for them at any time. But a representative of Karabakh should represent Karabakh,' he said.

Answering the question about the seven occupied Azerbaijani districts around Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyan said that according to the 'constitution' they are part of the so-called 'NKR' ('Nagorno-Karbakh republic').

'We say that we are ready to discuss the possibility of a peaceful settlement of this conflict. It is often asked: is Armenia ready for any concessions? But no one asks if Azerbaijan is ready. Everyone asks if Armenia is ready for compromise, but no one asks if Azerbaijan is ready for compromise. If Azerbaijan is ready for compromise, then we are also ready. If it is not ready, we are also not ready.

The question cannot be solved without compromise. But the problem is that every day Azerbaijan threatens that it will start a war, that Yerevan is an Azerbaijani city, the whole territory of Armenia is Azerbaijani territory. In this atmosphere, we simply refuse to talk about compromises. If in the atmosphere of threats we talk about compromises, someone can perceive this as a weakness. We will never allow this,' he said.

Recall that yesterday at a meeting with Armenian businessmen in Moscow, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said that the so-called 'NKR' in the future will have to become a full-fledged part of the Armenian territory.