In the “Pressing” program Satik Seyranyan the guest Tigran Abrahamyan is the secretary of the “I have honor” faction of the RA National Assembly (NA), member of the Executive Body (GM) of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

The main theses of the interview are below.

• At the moment, quite a number of people in the RPA are under political persecution, but I will not tell anyone a secret that Armen Ashotyan is one of the main striking forces in the RPA, and his isolation is a goal for the government. Armen has nothing to do with the act attributed to him, the government just aimed to isolate him. Ashotyan has already been unjustly detained for 2 years, and now it is already the 2nd month that he has been detained again on trumped-up charges.:

• For RPA, it is not the same whether Armen is outside or under prison or house arrest. Armen not only makes a public speech, but also solves a completely different functional problem outside. During the 8 years, the Republican Party continues to be the target of the government, starting with President Serzh Sargsyan, political persecution is being carried out against everyone.

• During the 44-day war, Nikol Pashinyan presented the defense army’s counter-offensive plan live. Wasn’t that a publication of a state secret? For this government, if there is a target, the criminal article is found and arrested. I have known Colonel Edik Maloyan for a long time, since 2016, when he was the battalion commander in Martakert. After the 44-day war, when the National Security Service deployed combat units in Artsakh, he was the deputy of one of them. Maloyan has always been a rebel by nature. The military, who refuse to become a propaganda tool of the government, to secure votes for them, become vulnerable. In general, I am aware that there are changes in the Armed Forces. And it is not new, but since 2018. Levon Mnatsakanyan was fired in 2018. was released because he had protected his soldiers who were killing Azerbaijanis. People with principles cannot enter into agreements with them, remove the gunners… This will continue until it has formed a homogeneous system for itself, has not turned all departments into party appendages.:

To remind: yesterday, law enforcement officers conducted a search at the residence of Colonel Edik Maloyan, winner of the “Combat Cross” 1st degree, after which he was arrested, then

They detained him for 2 months. Roman Javadyan, who is in charge of Edik Maloyan’s case, was detained for another 2 months.

The Investigative Committee reported that the criminal proceedings were initiated against him in connection with the case of publishing information containing state secrets, besides him, there is one more arrested. According to the media, Edik Maloyan came under the attention of law enforcement officers because the woman is related to the leader of the “Strong Armenia” party, Samvel Karapetyan, and the colonel did not follow the political instructions of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense before the elections. Moreover, he allegedly organized a leak about an internal directive sent to the army. Maloyan was the commander of Akhpradzor in Vardenis, he is a well-traveled and meritorious brave soldier who served in the city of Martakert of Artsakh for many years. After 2020, when a special purpose department was established in the National Security Service of Artsakh, he was appointed as a deputy. He participated in the April 44-day wars, in repelling the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh in 2023, he is classified as a “baevoi officer”, after being forcibly deported to Armenia, perhaps that is why he was taken to serve in the Armed Forces, one of the hottest spots. 

Freedom fighter Arman Petrosyan presented an interesting story about Maloyan. The story took place after the 44-day war.

“In Martakert, during the border demarcation with the Azerbaijanis, you know, it was a powerless situation. These Azerbaijanis come to the negotiation well armed, they line up in a line like a strong boy. The Iranian camp is approaching our trench, where the soldiers are on duty. On our side, Maloyan participates in the negotiation and is unarmed. The security forces are monitoring the process with cameras.

While talking to each other, the Azerbaijani commander lightly kicks the helmet of our soldier standing in the trench. As soon as Maloyan sees, he doesn’t look left or right, he immediately starts beating the Azerbaijani who hit the soldier’s helmet. After a good beating, they hardly leave an Azerbaijani. And after that, you know what happens? Maloyan is removed from the service by order of the commander of the Armed Forces Kamo Vardanyan,” Petrosyan said.

• This government needs the army as a component of propaganda. Their “uniform revolution” is in the same context of luxury and misery. What is the effect of the same parade? Our public sees the weapon, but does not know what kind of weapon it is, how it is used, whether it will be useful in modern wars or not. Do you remember the same SUs, why were they brought? to be photographed.

• Were there samadelka weapons in Armenia? They speculate that they have factory weapons, but what was there before?:

• In modern warfare, the emphasis is on unmanned aviation, long-range missile systems, and mobile groups. Now what kind of war are we preparing for? The only important thing is the military industry where investments should be made. By the way, the displayed ATSs, which were said to be of Armenian production, were manufactured by these companies back in 2015. They were tested and participated in punitive operations in Artsakh.

• You can have thousands of ATS, but it is important to understand whether the means of radio-electronic warfare and anti-aircraft warfare of Azerbaijan enable you to solve a problem. You can have a lot of equipment that you can’t even get out of hangarsl…

• Today, our country and the Armed Forces were not ready to shorten the mandatory military service period by 6 months. This was done at the expense of our state security so that Nikol Pashinyan would get 5% more votes. When you look on the ground at what is happening on the front line, you understand that reducing military service by 6 months is a threat to national security. Instead of us, no state could afford such luxury…

• In the army, you can hold all the temporary posts, but your staff will either be overburdened or physically unable to solve the problems before them. But for people, the emotional background comes to the fore. depth is not visible.

• They have turned the army into exile and try to use it as a threat in various situations. Training sessions are educational processes, their purpose is defined by law. Now, when you use it as a punishment to isolate the opposition, you nullify the purpose set by the law. Besides, it was also becoming a cause of internal enmity:

• When in 2018 people came to vote for them, they were puppets, now they are enemies. The hatred generated towards our Russian compatriots will leave its consequences for a long time. 

• The specialization received by Ashot Pashinyan has not lost its relevance. Many people with that specialization now participate in training camps. So I don’t see an element of privacy here.

• When you constantly say: we are only going to defend ourselves, we don’t want war, we don’t want peace, subconsciously you are preparing people for something that people are not ideologically ready to solve another problem, you are instilling defeatist sentiments in them. Now it’s gotten to the point where the military says we’re going to work, when it’s service. People see serving the motherland as a job, not a mission:

• These are so poor that they were not shown during the “Iskander” military parade, because first they discredited this highly accurate and effective weapon, and besides, Serzh Sargsyan brought it to Armenia. There were other Russian weapons, but no Iskander. When you turn the army into “svo” and “chujo”, you will not have any success:

• In the past, all defense ministers, regardless of the party they represented, worked with both the opposition and the government. Their “crap” was that they corrupted it too.

• It is a difficult decision to take the mandates, but you have to understand: take a mandate, what you will do, not take it, what you will do. 2021-2026 along the way, as unhappy as I was with the outcome, there were 2-3 major moves that, if done right, could have led to impeachment. Now it is very important that the opposition forces form an agenda that will unite the opposition forces. 1-2 forces cannot solve a problem, consolidation is needed. The agenda of the forces entering the parliament should be comprehensible to all forces, because they will not have a chance to succeed without extra-parliamentary forces.

• For a long time, we refrained from talking about the forces and figures who supported the 2018 elections. the so-called revolution. But some took this as a weakness and started slandering us to shift the responsibility from them and focus on the Republican.:

Details in the video.