A military parade dedicated to the Republic Day was held in Yerevan’s Republic Square. Nikol Pashinyan announced earlier that on May 28, there will be not so much a military parade as a report to the citizens, and only the weapons acquired after 2022 will be shown.

“The military parade is a very subtle phenomenon and can also give the impression of a deviation and abandonment of the peace agenda. We are working and will continue to work with our partners in the international community, including the countries of the region, so that they do not in any way perceive this as a rejection of the peace agenda,” Pashinyan said.

And as a proof of what was said, the term “conditional opponent” came to replace the words “enemy” and “adversary” during the event today.

Military expert Davit Jamalyan generally has reservations about this military parade.

“This was a military parade house. I say it with pain, because, in any case, the progress of the army, the success of the army will be perceived by any Armenian as a great achievement, regardless of everything, but here we see a cheap joke. 168․am– the expert mentioned in a conversation with and explained why he came to such a conclusion, – It is obvious to everyone that the government, which has been afraid since 2020 and has not organized any military exercises for fear of Aliyev, is suddenly trying to steal votes before the elections by using fearful wordings, rather than really showing the dubious weaponry acquired as a result of its very dubious military-technical activity.

And why is it doubtful, for example, the number one problem for our country in case of acquiring weapons is to solve the issue of delivering those weapons to the place. In other words, objectively, we have the problem of delivering the weapons, and also the munitions of those weapons. For the latter, there are 2 roads: through the territory of Georgia and through the territory of Iran. Everything that was purchased from France, and the CAESAR purchased from France is a quality weapon, can only be delivered through the territory of Georgia. But we know, don’t we, that Georgia closed its airspace for us in 2020.

Therefore, taking into account the very large influence of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem in Georgia, we can say with certainty that in the event of a possible confrontation with Azerbaijan, Georgia will close its airspace, and this means that the weapons purchased from France will not be supplemented with ammunition, that is, there will be no shells for that artillery system.

French munitions and weapons cannot come through the territory of Iran, because the Iran-NATO-USA conflict has a perspective.

Aliyev simply allowed this batch to arrive, so that Nikol could try to correct the rating, nothing else.”

Although the military expert assessed the quality of several examples of French weapons, he considered the price problematic. according to him, the equivalent of that armament could be obtained from Russia much more affordably.

Davit Jamalyan also questioned the quality of Indian weapons, noting: “For example, they bought weapons that the Indian army and the Armenian armed forces invested in their armed forces at the same time. We are talking about air defense systems. And what is interesting is that these air defense systems were used by India in the last clash of this tension against Pakistan, they announced that the use was effective, but after a long search I did not find a single confirmed fact that what was officially announced was proven by facts. There is no evidence or fact that these anti-aircraft systems hit any target.”

The expert responded to the observation that, according to RA officials, the Russian alternative you mentioned is also problematic, and it was announced, for example, that the money was given to the Russian Federation, but the weapons were not received. “It is a blatant lie, because about a year ago they themselves announced that the shipment of weapons from Russia had arrived. Apparently, it was about air defense systems.

Yes, the Russian military-industrial complex was overworked due to the Ukrainian events, and there may be a delay in terms of technical issues, but such technical issues have always existed, and sooner or later, we received the weapons we ordered. They received and announced that the Russian weapons have arrived, and it is a false theory that they gave the money and did not receive weapons.

I should also mention that TOS missile systems were shown in the square today, and there are 2 options here: either these systems are from the batch received before Nikol came to power, that is, from the supplies that were shown to us during Sargsyan’s time, or they arrived recently. If it happened recently, already during their rule, it means that this very fact refutes the lie that they gave money and did not receive weapons.”

In response to our questions about the need for diversification of the armed forces, Davit Jamalyan said: “Naturally, any state should have several reliable sources of military equipment acquisition, and cooperation with the Russian military-industrial complex, military-technical cooperation with Russia, naturally, should not exclude diversification. It happened before. for example, in the past, parallel to that military-technical cooperation with Russia, we had cooperation with NATO member-country Poland through the company “Lyubava-Armenia” in the context of modernization programs. That company was closed under Nicol.

What are they doing now? in the name of diversifying the field of military-technical cooperation, they are breaking ties with Russia, which they have the order and instruction from their Western masters. What do they do instead? They are constantly trying to get weapons from here and there. Yes, we should have different sources to acquire weapons, but they should be complementary, not antagonistic.

According to him, in the future, the future authorities will move with the logic of filling. After bringing the allied relations with Russia to a new quality, they will ensure stable, reliable supplies and, in the logic of complementing it, they will establish relations with other countries.

“For example, I see a perspective of relations with India, but from different principled positions, complementary positions. Then, they acquired the weaponry, from 2024, this weaponry is coming to the place, but they did not hold a single military exercise to test the acquired weaponry in conditions close to the combat situation, and our personnel to gain experience in a real military exercise situation,” summed up Davit Jamalyan.

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