The first and last president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachov admits that Nagorno-Karabakh was in a lamentable state in 1980s, but the authorities did not pay any attention to the region. “It was even impossible to get in touch with, say, Yerevan, and Nagorno-Karabakh was not financed,” Gorbachov said.

Speaking of the ways of settling the conflict, the former Soviet leader pointed out that nobody wins in such conflicts. “An agreement should have been reached, and we would have resolved the problem somehow in late 1980,” Gorbachov said.

“For example, I proposed republic status for Nagorno-Karabakh. The then Azeri authorities — I think Vezirov – were on the point of agreeing, but the plan failed. May be the problem could be resolved at that time, but we cannot imagine Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan now,” Gorbachov said.

“We can hear new calls for war now. But a new war must not be allowed in Nagorno-Karabakh. Negotiations are the only way out. War must be ruled out; otherwise, great powers will be involved,” he said.

“I think measures should have been taken to grant status to Nagorno-Karabakh. Economic assistance should have been rendered as well. People should have been enabled to keep touch with Yerevan.

We allocated funds for Karabakh later, I do not know how they were spent. At that time they told me I loved Armenians and did not love Azerbaijanis. Nonsense!” said Gorbachov.

On the occasion of the 28th anniversary of perestroika (the policy of reconstructing the economy, etc., of the former Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachov), the Gorbachov Fund released a report. According to the authors, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is among the causes of the USSR’s collapse.

The authors points out that the problem was the result of erroneous policy at the dawn of the Soviet state.