Serious Changes Expected in the Ministry of Defense

«Ժողովուրդ» newspaper reports: What is the background to Prime Minister Pashinyan's decisions yesterday, which led to the dismissal of Chief Military Inspector Movses Hakobyan and his deputies Kamo Kochunts and Vachagan Nersisyan?

The newspaper had previously informed on October 14 that there was chaos in the Ministry of Defense, as the ministry was required to submit a list of positions corresponding to the structural changes in the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces to the government within a deadline. And now, the Ministry of Defense has submitted it, and the executive has approved it.

The period of dismissals and appointments in the defense department, by the way, started on November 16, after a board meeting led by Prime Minister Pashinyan, which was also attended by the Minister of Defense of Artsakh, Commander of the Defense Army, Lieutenant General Karen Abrahamyan.

According to the newspaper reports, the Chief of General Staff will have one deputy, and Onik Gasparyan will not leave that position. The fates of the other deputies of the Chief of Staff—Andranik Makaryan, Stepan Galstyan, and Tiran Khachatryan—are still unclear.

On September 5, the newspaper wrote that the authorities seemingly wanted to replace Chief of Staff Artak Davtyan with O. Gasparyan, and to appoint A. Davtyan as the head of the Military Inspection Service instead of Movses Hakobyan.

During discussions, there was even a suggestion to appoint O. Gasparyan to the position of Movses Hakobyan, but they did not reach an agreement, believing that a military officer like O. Gasparyan should not leave the armed forces.

In exclusive comments to the newspaper, in response to the question of why he was dismissed and whether he failed to adapt to the new authorities, Movses Hakobyan stated, “This is related to structural changes; the Chief Military Inspector comes under the Ministry of Defense's jurisdiction.” And K. Kochunts replied, “I have adapted to everyone; this is an order for another position.”

According to the newspaper's sources, there is a verbal agreement that Movses Hakobyan will be appointed to another position, but it is also possible that this agreement may be violated, and the Ministry of Defense may not wish to see him in the reformed Military Inspection Service. Notably, Movses Hakobyan is also the uncle of Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan.

For more details, see the newspaper's today's issue.