The Nagorno KarabakhRepublic President Bako Sahakyan refuted media reports over pressure by international mediators on Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh to make them give up certian territories for the settlement of the conflict, RBC reports.

“The Armenian authorities would directly address the issue, if there really was any kind of pressure,” Bako Sahakyan told a press conference in Moscow.

According to the President, Karabakh representatives should also participate in the talks for the settlement of the conflict. “No nation’s fate has ever been decided without its own involvement,” Sahakyan said.

The Karabakh President stressed the necessity to restore the format, agreed upon at a Budapest summit in 1994, i.e. the tripartite negotiations between representatives of Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku.

Also, Sahakyan ruled out the possibility of Karabakh returning under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction.

Bako Sahakyan gave a press conference on Thursday, November 12, for Russia’s leading mass media representatives at the headquarters of the Regnum news agency in Moscow.

President Sahakyan presented the state-building process, socioeconomic development and foreign policy of Artsakh, as well as answered the journalists’ questions.

In his speech, Sahakyan stressed Russia’s place in karabakh’s foreign policy agenda.