Who is to blame for the fact that the army is perceived as hard labor? 25-day training camps

On June 4, news spread that Military Police officers are issuing notices to Armenian citizens arriving to Armenia from Russia to participate in training sessions at RA border checkpoints.

RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan immediately responded in a conversation with journalists that there is a set procedure for the notification, and it is carried out in accordance with those procedures.

“There is a procedure for notification. Notification usually occurs in that order. It is not physically possible to give notice there. No summons can be issued to anyone directly at the airport. The military police carries out the functions assigned to it, and various state structures can carry out appropriate actions if necessary,” Papikyan said.

The Minister of Defense responded to the counter-argument: can it be ruled out that citizens from Russia can be sent to 25-day training camps?

“How can I rule that out?” A citizen of the Republic of Armenia coming from Russia is a soldier, doesn’t he have any duties towards his homeland? Naturally, I cannot rule it out. Not only from Russia, France, the United States of America, etc., etc.

Papikyan voiced the same idea in a briefing with journalists on the day of the NA elections.

“I think it is legitimate for RA citizens who are in military service to fulfill their responsibilities to the motherland, that is, apart from exercising their rights, they also fulfill their duty to the motherland,” he emphasized, assuring that the notices about participating in training camps were not issued by his and Nikol Pashinyan’s instructions, because they were on vacation, and it is nothing that, being the prime minister on vacation, at least Pashinyan gave instructions to the law enforcement officers during the pre-election period. In general, even today we live in the period of unwritten laws, if not to say, violation of the requirements of the laws.

On June 9, Edward Asryan, head of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, addressed the journalists ասել՝  it is true that all those registered in the reserve force must go to training sessions in order, not agreeing, of course, that there is a selective approach towards those with oppositional views.

Yes, within the limits of the law, RA citizens registered in the reserve army must participate in the training camp, and yes, without discrimination, selectivity and not dictated by the political moment. But the problem is in the last thought range, that is, it is the current authorities that push to consider the army and the training camps as a punitive action.

Should NEWS.am journalist Narek Khachatryan participate in training sessions the very day after the election? notification receipt does not fit into the above-mentioned logic, when on the day of voting, he recorded the gathering of hundreds of servicemen at the polling station in Sotk minutes before the end of the voting, as well as persons in civilian clothes who entered the polling station with the servicemen and did not leave them in any way, who did not have any status that would allow them to be in the polling station at that moment.

It is not excluded that the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia will not see any intention here and will say that employees of other media also receive such notifications, including governmental ones, that Narek Khachatryan, for example, will leave for a training camp on June 23, etc. Maybe, suppose we believed that everything was a coincidence and not intentional.

But next to this, there are also reports that the “sect” of male RA citizens from other countries was closed, although they were not accused of anything, nor did they receive a training camp notice, they were kept to give the notices one by one. Here, of course, the leadership of the defense department will say what we have already mentioned above. And before this we have the notes and appeals of the representatives of the authorities.

In particular, Gevorg Papoyan, RA Minister of Economy, Deputy Chairman of the “Civil Contract” Party Department, answered the question regarding the arrival of “100,000 voters from Russia” days before the elections. answered. 

“I’m very happy because A) most of those people, our polls show, will vote for us, B) we need those people because now we are holding one-month (training) gatherings․․․ yes, and it would be great if it was 100․000 people, let’s say 30-40 thousand will stay here, we will send them to training camps. They will participate in a training camp for a couple of months, then return to Kaluga. What is it, what is the problem?’

It should be noted that Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan did not serve in the army, the question here is not how legal or illegal it is to be released from service, but that a person who has not served can reserve the right to such a call.

Later, Taron Chakhoyan, Deputy Head of the RA Prime Minister’s Office, made a similar statement, stating:

“Those who arrived in Armenia for Samo from Kaluga with election bribes from Russia will participate in 25-day training camps. Some incomprehensible discussions have started since yesterday, whether those people should be involved in the 25-day training sessions or not. Answer: definitely yes, they should be involved. For one simple reason: if these people are citizens of the Republic of Armenia and have the right to vote in Armenia, naturally they also have duties towards the Republic of Armenia and must participate in the 25-day training camps. And all those who avoid the 25-day training sessions will naturally be subject to criminal liability.”

Chakhoyan in the biography nothing about military service either.

Are these people who have not served in the army, are they the defense ministers who decide who will be drafted? By the way, such behavior of government representatives is not new.

During the days of the resistance movement, in 2022, Andranik Kocharyan, a deputy of the “Civil Agreement” faction, called on the RA Police and the National Security Service to collect the data of citizens participating in political events and actions of the opposition and transfer them to the RA Ministry of Defense, which, according to him, “will use these ‘well-trained’ young people capable of following simple instructions to enrich the mobilization resource of our army and protect the security of the borders of Armenia and Artsakh.” in order to attract”.

At the same time, information was spread in the press that summonses to participate in the three-month mobilizations of the Ministry of Defense were sent to the opposition, including Taron Manukyan, the son of MP Gegham Manukyan, who was under arrest at that time.

By the way, at that time, Kocharyan made a similar call to journalists as well to address

In other words, taking the oppositionists to the training sessions would not have been manipulated so much if the authorities themselves had not created such an environment and atmosphere, after all, they go to the sessions in politically passive regions as well. This is the first. Second, notices of training sessions were also sent to the sons of the government representatives. For example, in April of this year, we once again tried the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia պարզել՝ Why was Ashot Pashinyan not called at least once for training camps after completing his mandatory military service, in response to which the department headed by Suren Papikyan informed us.

“In response to the letter dated 18.03.2026 addressed to the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia. In response to your request, we inform you that the training sessions of reservists are carried out in accordance with the procedure and time limits established by the RA government. The selection of reservists is carried out according to the schedule and specialty of military accounting.

At the same time, we inform you that in 2023-2026 During this period, only 4.7 percent of those registered in the reserve force with Ashot Pashinyan’s military accounting specialty participated in the training sessions, and Ashot Pashinyan has not yet participated.”

The Ministry of Defense has kept secret Ashot Pashinyan’s profession or specialization in military accounting in the reserve forces, bypassed our questions to present legal justifications related to participation in training camps.

It seems that the son of Andranik Kocharyan, who served as the chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee, has not been called to the training camp these years either, we will try to get an official clarification from the RA Ministry of Defense regarding his son as well.

168.amthe had written that Kocharyan’s youngest son served in Haykazov, Artsakh, and continued his service in Vanadzor after the 44-day war.

We also have a problem with the training camps, that the participants are correctly allocated according to their military specialization. A problem we also had during the 44-day war.

And in 2026, as RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan previously announced, 20,000 reservists will be conscripted to training camps, instead of 16,000 in 2025.

It should be noted that Article 59 of the RA Law “On Military Service and the Status of Servicemen”. defines that “Military commissariats carry out a preparatory process for the organization of the training camp at least three months before the day of the announcement of the training camp: in order to ensure the citizen’s participation in the announced training camp by clarifying the circumstances and conditions of not being called to the training camp provided by the 5th and this parts of this article and the health condition of the citizen, within the framework of which the citizen in the Republic of Armenia is obliged to appear at his military registration body based on the corresponding notification of the military commissariat”.

In other words, here too we have gaps in the law, which does not specify when the RA citizen should receive the notification and in what time frame he should go to the training camp, otherwise there is room for maneuver. As for who can be called to the training sessions carried out within the framework of reservist training, in detail on one occasion we have presented. 

And Article 29 of the RA Law “On Defense” as well defines:

“1. The conscription of the citizens registered in the reserve force during the conscription is carried out by the military commissariats within the terms stipulated by the conscription plans of the armed forces and other troops.

2. A citizen who:

1) fixed in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

2) was declared unfit for military service due to his health condition;

3) has four or more children.

4) He is a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.”

Of course, half-joking-half-serious, we can propose that the legislative privilege be abolished, and MPs and members of the government who have passed the military service counting on their fingers be given the opportunity to participate in training sessions for 25 days and to keep the 29,743 sq km sovereign border of the Republic of Armenia they declared for 2 weeks. They will not take such a step, will they perceive the army as a place of punishment?

Mariam Petrosyan

P.S. In 2017, during the discussion of the draft law “On Military Service and the Status of Military Servicemen” submitted by the Government to the National Assembly, MP Naira Zohrabyan of “Tsarukyan” bloc was a question fix Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan: “how to make the army more attractive than a prison.” In other words, a disrespectful attitude towards the army has been expressed at all times, and perhaps the government had its share of the blame. And now Nikol Pashinyan’s government is working very actively.

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