Serzh Sargsyan's office reacts to leaked recording of conversation with Lukashenko regarding Artsakh
The office of Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan on Tuesday reacted to the leaked conversation between him and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, which has gone viral on social media.
“The Office of the third President of the Republic of Armenia has received numerous inquiries from mass media representatives about the recording that was released by one of the Telegram channels last night. Media outlets wanted to ascertain whether the discussion in the recording corresponds to reality, where and when it took place, and why Third President Serzh Sargsyan has not referred to it until now,” the office said in a statement.
“It still remains to be seen how the non-public conversation held during the CSTO Collective Security Council’s narrow-format presidential meeting in Yerevan on October 14, 2016, appeared on the internet. The Office of the third President of the Republic of Armenia accepts the publication of the recording as a fact and will refrain from commenting on a closed-door meeting just as it has been the case until now,” the statement read.
In the scandalous recording leaked by Bagramyan 26 Telegram channel, Alexander Lukashenko mentions that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is offering $5 billion to Serzh Sargsyan in return for the seven regions of Artsakh, while Sargsyan rejects the offer, adding he is ready to pay $6 billion to the Azeri leader for him to renounce the seven regions.