War Will Come Sooner or Later: Levon Mnatsakanyan

Artsakh is de facto independent, which must also be recognized de jure. The path to resolving this issue, according to Levon Mnatsakanyan, the former Minister of Defense of Artsakh and the Director of the State Emergency Service of Artsakh, is military operations, which will happen sooner or later. He made this statement during a broadcast on Artsakh Public Television, commenting on the likelihood of a new war.

“From the outside, the situation can be described as calm. However, if we look at the situation, we might be mistaken,” he said, emphasizing the continuous increase of armaments on the Azerbaijani side. “The adversary acquires new samples every day, expands its arsenal every day, and engages in training with these samples every day, bringing in instructors from various countries, for which they are of course paying. I do not think all this is being done for peace.”

Mnatsakanyan believes that to establish the independence of Artsakh de jure, a war is likely to be necessary. “If you want peace, you must prepare for war, and in our case, I am more inclined to say that there will be a war because, in the end, de facto independence exists, and it must also be established de jure. We know that the other side will not agree to this, and the issue must be resolved. I believe the only path to resolving this issue is military, and we must prepare for combat operations. Sooner or later, these operations will take place,” said the former commander of the Defense Army.