Cannot pass variable to the jobs of pipeline when calling "Create MR Pipeline" API

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Summary

I triggered a pipeline calling the create-a-new-pipeline API. The variables are passed.

curl --silent --request "POST" \
    --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: $GITLAB_PRIVATE_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data '{
    "ref": "$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME",
    "variables": [ {"key": "KEY1", "value": "VAL1"} ]
}' https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/$MY_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG/pipeline

But now when I triggered a MR pipeline calling the create-mr-pipeline. The variables are not passed.

curl --silent --request "POST" \
    --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: $GITLAB_PRIVATE_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data '{ "variables": [ {"key": "KEY1", "value": "VAL1"} ]
}' https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/$MY_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG/merge_requests/$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID/pipelines

Steps to reproduce

• Create a project including a job that run on merge request only

test-mr:
  image: alpine
  script:
    - echo "KEY1=$KEY1"
  only:
    - merge_requests

• Try to trigger this job using create-mr-pipeline API

curl --silent --request "POST" \
    --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: $GITLAB_PRIVATE_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data '{ "variables": [ {"key": "KEY1", "value": "VAL1"} ]
}' https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/$MY_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG/merge_requests/$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID/pipelines

You should see "KEY1=" as result instead of the expected "KEY1=VAL1".

Example Project

See the previous chapter (version - GitLab EE 12.4.1).

What is the current bug behavior?

Variables are not passed when triggering a MR pipeline using the create-mr-pipeline API

What is the expected correct behavior?

Variables are passed when triggering a MR pipeline using the create-mr-pipeline API

Relevant logs and/or screenshots

Output of checks

Results of GitLab environment info

Results of GitLab application Check

Possible fixes