Author: Maghakian Mike

On March 16, Pashinyan confirmed our information. Has the verbal agreement with Aliyev already been reached? article: published, where we referred to the possible public display of weapons acquired after 2022 in May.

Moreover, Nikol Pashinyan justified this idea by the fact that the state debt has increased because they also bought weapons, so they decided to present a public report to the public in the near future so that citizens can see what it is about.

Accordingly, on March 18, we sent a written request to the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia to find out how much the state debt increased just for the purchase of weapons, or how much money was spent on the purchase of new and modern weapons after 2022. This is especially for him, because in November 2025, Pashinyan said: “8 billion foreign debt has increased, what did we do, we bought weapons”, and 168.am wrote, that months before the war, the head of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, Onik Gasparyan, suggested to Pashinyan that “in general, 8 billion US dollars were needed to solve the problems facing the armed forces”, which was not taken into account, and even in the case of another General Staff, the proposal to solve some problems with a smaller amount than this.

But in its response within 5 days, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia refused to provide the requested information in this regard, based on Article 8, Clause 1, Sub-Clause 1 of the RA Law “On Freedom of Information” and the Government of the Republic of Armenia dated 11.01.2024. The requirements of Clause 15 of Resolution N5Z-N, as well as Clause 172 of Order N 797-Л of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia dated May 16, 2024 “On Approving the Expanded Departmental List of Encrypted Information of the RA Defense System”.

And this is the case when Nikol Pashinyan announced last year in November.

“Did we buy weapons on debt? Yes, we bought weapons on debt. Why, because we needed a lot and all at once… You don’t believe that you have the right? I say, let’s take it, show it, we can also stick price tags on it, which is what it costs.”

By the way, we got acquainted with the samples of new weapons in a closed format, there were no price tags.

We asked the Ministry of Defense to tell us how much money was spent on the purchase of weapons in 2019, as Pashinyan announced at the time that In 2019, the armed forces acquired an unprecedented amount of weapons and ammunition.

In addition, taking into account the fact that until today there are various rumors about the price of Su-30SM multi-purpose aircraft (without the missiles mentioned by Pashinyan) and Osa-AK anti-aircraft missile complexes, we asked Suren Papikyan to provide information: how much was paid for 4 Su-30s, and how much for Osa-AKs? However, the provision of this information was also refused.

It should be noted that Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security Affairs of the National Assembly, has more than once “name pasted” also to the weapons bought during Pashinyan’s rule, saying. “We had wrong acquisitions of weapons. I sent the information collected by the Investigative Commission, a huge package, to the Prosecutor General of RA.”

It’s a different question, how objective and how subjective are his claims.

By the way, Andranik Kocharyan, who headed the 44-day investigative commission, seems to have decided to focus on these topics again and through this to remind the former military leaders who still left some of his statements unanswered. Let’s wait for further developments.

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US President Donald Trump, who 24 hours ago gave the Islamic Republic of Iran 48 hours to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, seems to have retreated from his ultimatum.

Trump announced that he had ordered a five-day halt to military targeting of Iran’s energy infrastructure. On his Truth Social page, US President Donald Trump wrote that he is happy to announce that the United States of America and Iran have held very good and effective negotiations over the last two days on a full and complete settlement of hostilities in the Middle East. Trump also noted that he ordered the US armed forces to postpone the attacks on the energy infrastructure of the country for 5 days.

“Based on the spirit and tone of these deep, detailed and constructive conversations, which will continue throughout the week, I have directed the Department of Defense to delay for five days all military strikes against Iran’s power plants and energy infrastructure, contingent on the success of ongoing meetings and discussions,” he wrote.

It became known that there was also a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, during which Sergey Lavrov emphasized the inadmissibility of strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which create unacceptable risks and are full of catastrophic environmental consequences for all countries.

Trump’s announcement was followed by anonymous postings in Iranian media and Telegram channels.

Tasnim, referring to a high-ranking security official, announced.

“No negotiations have been proposed or held. The Strait of Hormuz will not return to its former state, and energy markets will not stabilize.” Another statement was circulated, citing an Iranian Foreign Ministry official, that there will be no talks between Tehran and Washington, and that Trump’s statements are an attempt to lower energy prices and buy time to implement military programs.

There have also been reports that there have been no direct talks, but that Iran has held talks with Middle Eastern partners, agreeing to change the status of the Strait of Hormuz for some partners. However, in general, Iran maintains the logic of continuing the war and advancing its preconditions in the propaganda domain.

168.amin a conversation with Russian orientalist Viktor Nadein-Raevsky said that the content of Trump’s statements changes very quickly, so it takes time to understand their long-term and substantive nature. He believes that Donald Trump’s decision at first glance can be perceived as an attempt to de-escalate the war against Iran.

However, according to him, according to everything, we are not dealing with tension reduction, but with the mechanism of parallel application of pressure and negotiation, which will allow to weaken the intensity of military strikes at the same time.

“The energy crisis that broke out in the world as a result of Iran’s actions is a problem for the United States, which cannot be denied or underestimated. Therefore, with ultimatums and negotiation attempts, the US administration is trying to ease the situation in that area, at the same time to gain time and position itself well.

The pause announced by Washington seems to be an opportunity to start a diplomatic process, but Iran, for its part, seems to deny the fact of direct negotiations, which shows that the contacts between the parties, if they even exist, are not public and mediated. Even if they exist, Iran treats them with great suspicion and mistrust, evaluating the previous two negative experiences of negotiations with the USA. Iran no longer trusts negotiations with the US. Iran understands that Iran’s pressures are yielding certain results, so it is trying to strengthen the position of the dictator.

Tehran’s information response is also predictable. The Iranian side presents the created situation as the result of a good resistance, stressing that Washington had to back down from its threats. This is an important message for a country waging a war, as it allows maintaining the strength of resistance under external pressure,” said Victor Nadein-Raevsky.

He believes that the five-day pause is a transition phase that can develop in different directions, but the most likely scenario is a controlled escalation. “In other words, the parties can continue the military and political confrontation, but try to avoid such strikes that could lead to unpredictable global consequences. The diplomatic window is opening, but it is extremely narrow and temporary. This is also evidenced by the emphasis of the US president that the targeting of energy infrastructures is stopped.

Summing up, it can be said that Trump’s decision does not symbolize a resolution of the conflict or a real de-escalation. It is a strategic pause, the aim of which is to simultaneously reduce international pressure and control economic risks. However, Iran sees success in all of this, perhaps there is some truth in it, but it is too early to make final predictions, because I think this is an intermediate, transitional stage for better positioning,” Victor Nadein-Raevsky said.

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Ruben Vardanyan, the former minister of state of Artsakh, who was illegally convicted in Azerbaijan, sounded another alarm the other day, announcing that he tried to contact the human rights defender of Azerbaijan, but did not succeed because the contact was interrupted. He even tried to contact the Ministry of Human Rights of Azerbaijan through a lawyer, again in vain. Regarding all this, the other day through the Ruben Vardanyan family statement had spread.

Siranush Sahakyan, representative and lawyer of Armenian prisoners of war at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to Ruben Vardanyan’s message, it clearly shows the problem that has been raised many times: the absolute isolation of Armenian prisoners, the lack of contact with the outside world, and the lack of effective legal measures.

“All this means that the rights of these persons cannot be protected. Even the local mechanisms, which are meant to protect the rights of persons in closed institutions, become ineffective in the case of ethnic Armenians. This record is not only our approach, but also a judicial record of the ECHR that the Azerbaijani authorities cannot provide protection measures for ethnic Armenians.” 168.amSiranush Sahakyan said in a conversation with

According to him, in the case of Armenian hostages and prisoners, the only mechanism in Baku that could act relatively, and that is, in order to solve humanitarian issues, was the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The operation of the office in Baku is currently suspended and discretionary during this time one entry visit took place, within which some humanitarian assistance was provided for the transfer of hygiene items and other items.

Siranush Sahakyan noted that the government of Azerbaijan, having organized the illegal trials, also refuses to give the verdicts to the recipients and their family members.

“All this shows that these trials were fake, they were political processes carried out for other purposes, and by not issuing these verdicts, Azerbaijan is also trying to hinder international legal protection. And here we find ourselves in the domain of violation of new rights,” added the human rights defender.

Our interlocutor emphasized that the only way in these conditions is international involvement, for example, as a result of negotiations, making Red Cross visits regular, which, unfortunately, depends on the will and desire of the Azerbaijani authorities. There may also be the right of consular visit, which is exercised directly by the Republic of Armenia or mediated through a third neutral state.

“I record with great pain that there is inaction here, and the Republic of Armenia does not exercise its sovereign rights towards its own citizens and contributes to the formation of this gap, a vacuum. The great burden falls on the shoulders of human rights defenders, who should be able to present the situation to the international community and make it an agenda in the background of these injustices happening in the world. Of course, this is very difficult, especially when there is no proactive state policy and diplomacy, it is also difficult because human rights problems have become widespread in various sectors. We should also raise the issues of Armenian prisoners, achieve the internationalization of these issues and in that way also reach the solution.

Of course, taking legal protection measures with the involvement of families is also in the discussion stage. At the moment, I cannot say for sure, but I should mention in general terms that families can, under certain circumstances, entrust the protection of the interests of those in Baku and file interstate claims against Azerbaijan through their lawyers,” emphasized Siranush Sahakyan.

Let’s remind that on February 5, it became known that the military and political leadership of Artsakh, except former presidents Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, were all sentenced to life imprisonment by the Baku military court. Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan were sentenced to 20 years in prison, taking into account their age.

Let’s also remind that on September 19, 2023, after the war started against Artsakh, Azerbaijan captured the former high-ranking military and political leadership of Artsakh from September 27 under the threat of killing civilians.

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