On May 23, Robert Kocharyan, the ex-President of Armenia, reacted to the statement of the de-facto Parliament of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh, which condemned the earlier statements of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, noting that his own approaches have not changed.

Former Armenian leader Robert Kocharyan, currently heading the Armenia opposition bloc, criticized the recent statement made by Karabakh deputies as an inappropriate ultimatum. Kocharyan, who holds the second-largest faction in the Armenian parliament, expressed his perplexity at Stepanakert's delayed realization of the events unfolding in the region. He pointed out the evident open surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh over the past two years, which is difficult to ignore. Kocharyan emphasized the importance of fighting for the homeland rather than merely imitating the fight.

"The ultimatum demand to the [ex-]presidents [of Armenia], in my opinion, is inappropriate and insulting. Have you just realized what's going on? Are you that 'naïve'? We talked about it publicly on every occasion. The National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh, in its majority [except for four MPs] with its leaders, did not react in any way to our warnings. You supported the Armenian government in the 2021 parliamentary elections. You 'didn’t notice' the mass protests in Yerevan in April-May last year," the second president of Armenia pointed out.

According to him, with their obedience and desire to please the Armenian authorities, the deputies in Stepanakert allowed the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh to be decided without their participation. Kocharyan further urged not to shift responsibility from a sick head to a healthy one. 

"So do not dare to shift responsibility from a sick head to a healthy one. And certainly not for you to judge the level of my patriotism. My approaches have not changed - you have to fight for your homeland and not imitate the fight," he concluded.

Notably, the de-facto National Assembly of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh recently issued a statement calling unacceptable the readiness of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to include Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan. The MPs noted that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was determined by the people's will on December 10, 1991, and no power has the right to change it. They also demanded that the ex-presidents of Armenia react to what happened.