Zhirayr Liparityan, Armenian President Levon Ter Petrosyan’s ex-advisor (1991-1997), said that US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland played an essential role in ousting the president in the late 1990s, RIA Novosti reports.
Ter-Petrosyan won the elections in October 1991. He was re-elected in 1996, though some international organizations called the election results falsified. Ter-Petrosyan announced his resignation in February 1998, motivating it with differences over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Nuland, according to Liparityan, had been one of the people involved in the domestic affairs of Armenia, resulting in the fall of Ter-Petrosyan. The ex-advisor added that US Ambassador Peter Thomson had done all he could to encourage opposition for more radical actions.
Liparityan said that US diplomats had also played a significant role in Robert Kocharyan’s becoming president. In his words, the US hoped that Kocharyan would resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
