Author: Anna Tamamian

Arshak Karapetyan, the former head of the intelligence department of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, was appointed an adviser to the Acting Prime Minister of the RA Nikol Pashinyan yesterday. This news was ambiguously perceived, especially considering Karapetyan’s past.

Investigative journalist, editor of “Hetki” also referred to it Edik Baghdasaryan:

“Former head of the intelligence department of the Armed Forces General Staff, Arshak Karapetyan, has been appointed an adviser to Nikol Pashinyan. The number one responsible for so many victims in April 2016 is the military. He should have been punished, he was only released from his post. The Azerbaijani military launched an attack in different directions and there was no intelligence data. And now he is on the horse again, it’s crazy,” Baghdasaryan wrote on his Facebook page.

Media expert Samvel Martirosyan and, supplementing Baghdasaryan’s note, he wrote:

“I also say, where does the name come from?” Let me also remind you that the intelligence was not aware that Azerbaijan bought kamikaze drones from Israel. As a result, the military was not informed about their possible use. Which caused serious losses on our side. Even months before the press it was known that Israel sold them to two countries. Taking into account that the list of countries to which Israel supplies strike drones is not many, such a conclusion could be reached even without being the head of intelligence. 

To remind, Arshak Karapetyan was dismissed from the position of the head of the intelligence department of the RA Armed Forces General Directorate immediately after the April 2016 war. Since this February, he held the position of military attaché of the Armenian Embassy in Russia.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that there is a dialogue between Yerevan and Baku, and it is being conducted. According to him, it is obvious.

He made such a statement during the press conference, commenting on the joint statement of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries within the framework of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OSCE and the meeting of Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev within the framework of the CIS Summit.

Zakharova noted that the dialogue exists, an official statement is not needed here. “Russia, based on the role of the co-chairs, will actively contribute to achieving the main goal of positive dynamics,” he said.

Answering the question that the call implies preparing the population of the two countries for peace, he noted that it is a whole set of concrete steps that should be worked out, and the parties and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs should deal with it.

Talking about whether the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed during the visit of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Baku, Zakharova stressed that the settlement of the conflict is always one of the central topics during the visits and contacts of the Foreign Minister to the region.

“It is always discussed both in Yerevan and Baku. This is a basic topic. Russia is one of the co-chairs of that process,” Zakharova concluded.

The Assets and Liabilities Management Committee of the Military Insurance Fund dated 05.12.2018. made a decision to pay compensation to the family of one serviceman in the prescribed manner.

The family of Artsakh conscript Mheri Hovsepyan will be given a one-time payment of 10 million RA, and 200,000 AMD per month for 20 years.

According to the contract signed with “ARTSAKH BANK” CJSC, the money will be transferred to a special bank account opened for the beneficiaries, which is serviced free of charge.

The President of the Republic Armen Sargsyan accepted the “2018. to the organizers and a group of participants of the international round table-discussion entitled “a breakthrough year for the South Caucasus”. The purpose of the conference, initiated by the “Scientific Society of Caucasian Scientists” and the “Dialog” Moscow organization, is to discuss regional problems, assess existing and possible challenges and threats.

The President of the Republic emphasized the close cooperation between Russian and Armenian research and analytical centers, the work of political scientists-analysts and experts.

The guests presented the goals of the event to the president, noted that they want to better understand the processes taking place in Armenia in order to form a more objective understanding of them.

President Sargsyan considered stability and predictability very important for the country. “It is an important factor, and I, as the president of the Republic, will do my best to ensure that stability,” Armen Sargsyan emphasized.

The President noted that discussions and analyzes in general provide an opportunity to generate new ideas, to outline what needs to be done, to understand where we are going, what goals we are pursuing, what our relations with the world will be like.

On the third day of the campaign, Eduard Sharmazanov, speaker of the Republican Party of Armenia and deputy candidate, said live on Facebook that he will be in all communities of Lori region to present the 11-year activity.

He also referred to an important event that took place yesterday in Lori Marz. “Representatives of today’s government, headed by the acting prime minister, visited, and I regret to say that a person had deteriorated in the hospitable Lori, and that deteriorated person was Nikol Pashinyan, no less, no more. The case had reached the point where he was threatening, blackmailing, waving his finger, spreading the asphalt, and grabbing the necks of the residents of Lorraine right and left. Dear friend, the Ski Turks could not grab the people of Lorraine by the neck or spread them on the asphalt. In 2018, in the battle of Gharakilisa, the glorious people of Lorraine defended Armenia with Nzhdeh,” he said.

Sharmazanov called for a political debate. “What does it mean to spread the asphalt, grab the neck? Are you a prime minister or an asphalt spreader? How can you descend to that level? Is this a political debate or a Kuchi bazaar?” he said, adding that he felt bad for such a leader of the country.

“You have a plan, go and present it. Do you have to decide whether the RPA should exist or not? The RPA was and will be during the Soviet Union. People like you will come and go, but Ashot Navasardyan’s party will remain. This is a party of ideas,” he said, and then he referred to Pashinyan’s call not to elect the RPA.

“What are you trying to do, don’t vote for RPA? This is a free election, whoever wants to vote, why did you go after the poor village heads? Each village head is the cream of the community, it is the collective will. Every village head is more legitimate than you today, and don’t try to talk to the people of Lori in that tone, they will choose you: congratulations, they will choose us, let them choose us, why are you so bad, brother, don’t forget, you are the head of the state, not for good,” he said.

Sharmazanov also spoke about Pashinyan’s observation that he was approached and told that the village heads were threatening them to elect the RPA.

“Your supporters are scaring you, according to the news in the air, you take state employees to rallies, you terrorize the voters with your speech, you wave your finger at the voters, the voter will break your finger on December 9. There is a place for asphalt workers in Moscow, take your team, go, spread it, we don’t need an asphalt worker, we need a head of state,” he said.