Russian President Vladimir Putin today, at his traditional end of the year press conference in Moscow, claimed the Armenian government never informed the Kremlin of its decision to officially recognize Nagorno Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, in May 2023, confessed that his administration recognizes Nagorno Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan. Prior to this, Pashinyan, on several occasions, said that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other’s territorial integrity and borders. Before the 2020 Karabakh war, Pashinyan publicly announced that Artsakh was a part of Armenia.

"We all understand that, but we did not give up Karabakh. Armenia accepted that Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan. In fact, they did it on their own initiative and did not inform us that they were going to make such a decision. This is simply a statement of fact. There are both advantages and disadvantages in this matter," Putin stated, without specifying what advantages and disadvantages he was talking about.