Naturally, if the Russian peacekeeping contingent leaves Nagorno-Karabakh, Karabakh will have no future. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan stated this to Armenian News-NEWS.am, referring to the statements on the withdrawal or non-withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers five years later.
"It [Artsakh] can have no future as part of Azerbaijan either. And the fact is definite that after the departure of the Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijan will try to resolve the issue by force.
The presence of Russian peacekeepers must be until the conflict is settled, whereas we are still far from its resolution. The question of peacekeepers is, in fact, the question of whether Karabakh exists or not. Preserving the subjectivity of Karabakh is of special importance for us today, as Karabakh resolves a number of global geopolitical issues even in such a situation, and everyone knows that.
It is very important for the Armenian statehood to support the subjectivity of Karabakh in every way and to realize that without Artsakh, the Armenian statehood will turn into a geopolitical disabled, and then completely lose not only its subjectivity, but, also, it is quite possible that in time it will simply cease to exist," added Babayan.