On July 4, 1921, the Plenum of the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of Russian Communist Party decided that Karabakh would be integrated to Armenia. However, on the next day, July 5, 1921, Stalin intervened and thus it was decided that Karabakh be retained in Soviet Azerbaijan – this decision was taken without local deliberation or plebiscite. As a result, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was established within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923. Most of the decisions on the transfer of the territories, and the establishment of new autonomous entities, were made under pressure from Joseph Stalin, who is still blamed by Armenians for this decision made against their national interests