Newly Appointed Colonel and Controversial Letter

The newspaper "Zhoghvoroud" writes: From January 1 to February 13, 2020, 13 deaths were recorded in the army, resulting in the dismissal of the Head of the Psychological Operations Department of the Ministry of Defense and the Head of the Police.

On March 20, Colonel Arthur Poghosyan was appointed as the Head of the Psychological Operations Department of the Armed Forces. However, it should be noted that several years ago, there was a scandalous publication in the press related to the colonel's name. Specifically, a group of residents affected by the activities of the "Norashen 2007" company published an open letter, stating that on February 16, 2011, during the investigation of a criminal case, the Chief of the Anti-Corruption Committee, Andranik Mirzoyan, had made an official inquiry to the Ministry of Defense in order to obtain very important evidence, but they received obviously false information from the Ministry. The organizer of this was Colonel Arthur Aris Poghosyan, the Deputy Head of the Air Defense Department of the Ministry of Defense, who was recognized as a witness instead of an accused in this case.

“During the investigation, he refused to acknowledge that we were familiar, whereas between 2008 and 2010, we carried out more than ten transactions. All the notarial contracts are available.” The newspaper attempted to speak with Colonel Poghosyan regarding this letter and the issues of improving the moral and psychological state of the army; however, he stated that he did not find it appropriate to speak on the phone and suggested a meeting to answer all questions.

Regarding the issue of eliminating criminal subculture in the army, he noted: “There will be comprehensive measures, not only at our ministry level but various agencies will be involved. We all need to work hard day and night and we should be able to achieve this.”