Where did the 57 square kilometers of Armenia`s sovereign territory  go? NA Speaker responds to opposition MP`s  question 

ArmInfo. The territory of Armenia has always measured 29,743 square kilometers, whereas the previously circulated figure of 29,800 square kilometers was merely a rounded estimate. This statement was made on August 11 from the rostrum of the National Assembly by RA National Assembly Vice-Speaker  Ruben Rubinyan, responding to an inquiry from opposition "Armenia" faction MP Artur Khachatryan. 

The MP, in particular, noted that they were once taught in school  that Armenia's territory was 29,800 square kilometers, while now the  Armenian authorities are voicing the figure of 29,743 kilometers.  "When you round 29,743, you get 29,700, so the logical question  arises: where did those 57 square kilometers of the Republic of  Armenia's sovereign territory go?" said Artur Khachatryan,  speculating about the possible ceding of Tigranashen to Azerbaijan.  Khachatryan also noted that both the Armenian Encyclopedia and the  USSR Encyclopedia spoke of a territory of 29,800 square kilometers.

Meanwhile, Rubinyan, citing a report on the availability and  distribution of land in the Republic of Armenia, approved in 2005,  noted that the country's territory has always been 29,743. The  encyclopedia may have rounded off the number in the title, but it was  no smaller. According to him, in 2005, when the ARF Dashnaktsutyun  joined the ruling coalition, the land fund report approved by the  Armenian government listed Armenia's territory as 2,974,300 hectares,  equivalent to 29,743 square kilometers.  Rubinyan added that the same  figure was presented in subsequent relevant documents in 2010 and  2015.

The NC speaker also mentioned the Alma-Ata Declaration, noting that  according to it, the administrative borders that existed between the  former Soviet republics became interstate borders after independence.  "It clearly states that existing interrepublican borders become  interstate borders. This means that whatever borders existed at that  time between the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the  Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic become interstate borders,"  Rubinyan said. According to him, the recognition of Armenia's 29,743  square kilometer territory also follows from this logic. 

Rubinyan also saw a contradiction in the opposition MP's positions,  according to which, on the one hand, the ratification of the 1991  Alma-Ata Declaration is not seen as a step toward recognizing  Nagorno- Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, while on the other hand, the  2022 Prague Declaration, in which the parties reaffirmed their  recognition of each other's territorial integrity based on the  Alma-Ata Declaration, is presented as a change in Armenia's policy.  "Now decide whether the recognition of each other's territorial  integrity by the Alma-Ata Declaration means recognition of the  borders of the former Soviet republics or not," the Speaker of the  National Assembly said.