In a conversation with journalists on July 29, Nikol Pashinyan said that Suren Papikyan will be reappointed to the position of RA Defense Minister.

When asked if you are satisfied with the fact that this year the 8th casualty in non-combat conditions has already been registered in the army, Pashinyan first responded. 

“A military parade was held in the Republic of Armenia on May 28.”

It is not clear what this had to do with the journalist’s questioning. Maybe Pashinyan understands its effect on the result of the NA elections in their favor.

On the other hand, perhaps, in response to the views that the military parade was excessively politicized and kept Nikol Pashinyan’s person “at the forefront”, he tried this time not to ignore the role of the defense department and the army in holding the military parade, emphasizing its, so to speak, military significance, not being a political report.

Of course, any military parade is also a political report, but it should not be turned into a political show (staying military equipment on the street for a day, being too accessible).

However, when the journalists repeated the question about non-combat deaths in the army, Pashinyan once again stated that he sees the solution to this issue in a change in the public’s socio-psychology.

“Approximately 70 percent of what happens in the military has no origins in the military. Of course, the officers are to blame, but each case must be considered separately. It’s a problem that needs to be solved. Unfortunately, ministers change, even the authorities are changing, but the problem is still present. which means they are much deeperthan we are used to dealing with,” he continued.

There has always been a problem of non-statutory relationships and non-combat deaths in the army.

The issue is that in February 2020 Nikol Pashinyan decided, in the context of the deaths in the army, that Karen Abrahamyan should be released from the position of the commander of the Armed Forces and replaced by Jalal Harutyunyan, there were also personnel changes. In the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia: the heads of the Department of Morale and Psychological Support of the Armed Forces and the Military Police were dismissed.

It should be noted that from January 1 to February 17, 2020, according to the statement of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the deaths of servicemen were registered in the Armed Forces. 13 cases, “from which 4 as a result of an accident, 4 o’clock due to circumstances unrelated to the service“Illness, personal problems”. criminal cases were initiated in connection with the remaining 5 cases, circumstances are revealed. This is the first.

Secondly, Pashinyan always says that they inherited a “ruined” army and now they have created a new army in terms of content, tactics and military technology. In that case, why can’t they create a new army in terms of the statute, to justify even one bit that this issue was difficult to resolve even under the previous authorities? Apart from this, are there no episodes in the army today that did not happen before, of course there are. In this case, is it only necessary to justify that the origin of 70 percent of these problems has nothing to do with the army? Of course not.

Because if the use of drugs and gambling spreads in the army, it becomes the problem of the “clean” army. The political leadership of RA is responsible for the criminal situation in the country, as a result of its poor work, such phenomena enter the army, and here the responsibility is divided between the political and military-political leadership, but this does not exempt the political leadership from responsibility.

For example, how does the drug get into the army, about which Hayk Sargsyan, a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, warned about it for several years?

Or, can Nikol Pashinyan say why being obsessed with lotteries among soldiers became a problem, did the freedom related to telephones, less control over the use of smartphones not play a role?

Why only about 2 years ago, the Ministry of Defense and the Investigative Committee? decided to within the framework of the draft law submitted to the National Assembly a restriction on participating in winning games should also be provided for servicemen and law enforcement officers. At the time, when Nikol Pashinyan’s government was warned about these risks, they did not take them seriously.

By the way, in the press conference after the government meeting on July 30, Pashinyan mentioned these very episodes. presented as the cause of soldiers’ suicides, and not only them.

“Why do soldiers commit suicide in our army? There are 3 main reasons. One reason is gambling, getting into debt and not being able to pay it off։ We have taken de jure measures to ban those who are in the service, but that system is still being implemented. I should also say that I know about this from the time I was in the Koshi colony. You don’t have to bet on your phone. There are shady dealers who place bets on the phone, on speech, then if you win, they give you what you won, but if you lose, they get it by any means possible.

The second is family or personal problems that arise in civil life, in various relationships.

The third is related to a very specific situation: sleeping while on duty in a combat position. There is a line in the song of one of the Armenian rappers, he talks about himself and says: I have never slept in a position. The person listening from the side will say: What is this sentence? I have never slept in this position. You keep the position, the others sleep and rest.

If the guard fell asleep, it means that he endangered the lives of others. Whoever reported that he fell asleep, the soldiers subject him to isolation. It is a criminal subculture, or in this case it is security overpressure, after stepping down from the position there is a certain isolation, psychological pressure, etc.” explained Pashinyan.

As we mentioned, the presented cases are common causes of suicides.

But Pashinyan, who advises to delve into the causes of problems, gives rather inflexible and careless qualifications regarding sleeping in position, and forgets the important thing: why does a soldier sleep in position?

For example, have they examined which army corps or military unit, especially after the reduction of the term of service, often have cases of sleeping in the position, what kind of tension does combat duty go through here, due to being close to enemy positions or frequent targeting, how acute is the problem of human resources?

That is, how many hours does the soldier sleep, how many hours does the shift take place, is there a problem of human resources, and depending on that, is there a problem of lack of sleep, if there is no such question, then the soldier’s inability to endure may be caused by other things.

These are questions that need to be answered and resolved.

If the head of the country does not talk about this and is satisfied with only presenting sleeping in position as a phenomenon that threatens the safety of others, this will only cause harm.

Of course, a soldier sleeping in a position, to whom a superior is reprimanding, must consider a number of security risks at that moment and try to think, maybe the officer is giving an emotional remark to him at that moment, thinking about his own safety. On the other hand, regardless of everything, an officer or a fellow soldier should be more careful in the position when making a remark to another soldier, that remark should not be offensive and humiliating.

All this presupposes quite consistent work by the leaders of military units and military units, with both soldiers and officers, whose age difference is not too big.

Let’s remind that there are cases of EMU members and reservists standing on combat duty in an inebriated state or, at least, performing combat duty in an improper state, which is no less a security problem, as Pashinyan mentioned above.

By the way, it is interesting that Pashinyan considered himself responsible for the situation in the army during the briefing after the government session: “I have that fault, it should not be blamed on the leadership of the army.”

In fact, this is exactly the case, because the removal of many experienced officers from the army is Pashinyan’s fault, the sometimes incorrect personnel appointments in the army are also the result of his decision, the removal of artillerymen from the army was also his demand, the fact that tomorrow the army may have a problem with combat capability is again under his responsibility, and so on.

It should also be noted that during his two-day briefings, Nikol Pashinyan tried to “soften” the atmosphere created by Anna Hakobyan’s statements describing the situation in the army, to which we have touched on.

On the other hand, Pashinyan confirmed our claim that he dismisses this or that member of his government for his own reasons, which may have little to do with his activities. And now it is not excluded that the re-appointment of Suren Papikyan had a tendency not to inflame passions.

By the way, according to Pashinyan’s decision, Vilen Gabrielyan was elected as a candidate for the chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly. This commission is a supervisory body, and it will be quite interesting to follow Vilen Gabrielyan-Suren Papikyan interaction and working contacts.

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