On 3 January, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a meeting of the country’s Security Council. 

According to Pashinyan’s press service, a number of issues related to the situation in and around Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as humanitarian problems and security were discussed at the meeting. The de facto President of Nagorno-Karabakh Arayik Harutunyan also was present at the meeting. Harutunyan’s press service reported that the issues related to the exchange of prisoners of war and the bodies of the killed soldiers along with the problems of displaced persons were discussed.

A few days earlier, Pashinyan announced his plans to further deepen Armenia’s relations with Russia, saying that his country needs “new security guarantees” after the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh. “The very first minutes of 2021 should be the ‘zero point’ for us to usher in the outset of our new national rise,” Pashinyan said in a televised address to the nation aired on New Year’s Eve. “What do we need for this? First of all, to furnish a new security environment, the most important component of which is the launch of army reforms and the strengthening of relations with our primary security partner, Russia, and the creation, in this context, of new security guarantees,” he said.

After his statement, Pashinyan received Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk. The two parties discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, humanitarian aid provided to it, the exchange of bodies of killed soldiers and prisoners of war, as well as the Armenian-Russian relations. The two men stressed the importance of consistent work on the exchange of prisoners of war. Pashinyan and Overchuk also discussed Armenian-Russian cooperation in such areas as economics, energy, development of transport infrastructure and the fight against coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Pashinyan still faces pressure from the opposition forces in the country regarding his position as Armenia’s Prime Minister. “Pashinyan started 2021 again with a lie in his New Year address,“ stated the opposition Prosperous Armenia (BHK) parliamentarian Gevorg Petrosyan. “Pashinyan said we gave those lands to Azerbaijan by verbal consent. Who has heard such a thing? Armenian people, where have you heard that the land is handed over by verbal consent?” Petrosyan stated. He also noted that according to the rumours, Pashinyan is going to bring personnel from Karabakh to head Armenia’s law enforcement agencies, as the latter’s current leadership is ashamed of its activities carried out on Pashinyan's instructions.

The former head of the General Department of Supervision of the Investigative Committee of Armenia Tatul Petrosyan said that Pashinyan completely “beheaded” the army—starting with the generals—so that he could achieve capitulation. Petrosyan also emphasised that after the demarcation in Syunik Province of Armenia, Pashinyan would continue on that course in Gegharkunik and Tavush Provinces. “I am far from the idea that Pashinyan only signed that 9-point statement on 9 November. I am convinced that there are other agreements in the footnote and as a result, there will be an international agreement, too; two countries are already drawing the Armenia-Azerbaijan border,” he added.

The country’s former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan said that Pashinyan would also concede other territories to Azerbaijan during the border demarcation process. “Villages are not handed over just like that. First, they sit down and draw the border with Azerbaijan, sign the paper, as there are territorial surrenders, the National Assembly approves, and then they hand them over; this process takes months or a year," he noted. 

According to Bagratyan, the village Tigranashen/Karki will be also handed over to Azerbaijan and afterwards the Azerbaijani officials will posit the same conditions on the town of Masis and one of the districts in the capital Yerevan where Azerbaijanis once lived. “The Republic of Armenia border is what the Azerbaijanis decide. If there is a war, for example, if the CSTO wants to help Armenia, it is not clear to it whether or not the conflict is in the territory of Armenia. Armenia does not have an established border with Azerbaijan; this comes from the inaction of the incumbent president and government of Armenia," Bagratyan further stressed. 

Armenia’s former ambassador to Vatican Mikael Minasyan said that after the meeting in Moscow, the Director of the National Security Service of Armenia Armen Abazyan met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ali Nagiyev (Caucasus Watch reported). Minasyan said that Abzyan was sent to Baku in secrecy to formalise and fix in writing, all concessions and losses that have already been made on the basis of oral agreements.