Former NSS Chief Remained Close to Arayik Harutyunyan Until the End, Reported to Someone Daily: Robert Kocharyan

We need to find much deeper forms of integration with Russia, especially regarding security issues and increasing our defense capabilities. This was stated today, December 4, by the second president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, during an interview with Channel 5.

“We must acknowledge the following: the army has suffered enormous losses in terms of military equipment. I do not want to talk about percentages, as people have recently been mentioning them. I do not want to speak on that to avoid causing alarm among the people. It is evident that we do not have the capacity to restore all of this and have a combat-ready army with our own resources. Today, we do not even have an army to guard the border in Syunik. Villagers are holding the border using local militia with the men gathered from the village. Where is our government? Azerbaijanis are coming from the other side, drawing borders, and there is no one from our side to negotiate, to say, ‘this side is not it, that side is.’ It is the village mayor who is doing this. Is this what government looks like?”

“To set all of this back on the right course and restore the army's combat readiness, I do not see any other country with whom we can do this. It is Russia. Therefore, we need to find much deeper integration measures. And especially considering Turkey’s factor. I have mentioned this several times over the past two years. Turkey is a serious factor in this region. For Turkey, it is necessary to weaken Armenia as much as possible and it will never abandon such intentions. I do not want to go into details; that is a major topic for a separate interview. But it is clear that both our security issues and our economic developments must be taken into account. Our market is small, while Russia's market is large and expansive. We must deeply integrate with Russia, especially regarding security and increasing our defensive capabilities. This is a negotiation issue. There must be a power that has absolute confidence in building correct relations with Russia. This is one of the circumstances that implies a very swift change of power so that we can initiate that process. Today, we are not protected, and yes, there is a risk of receiving a second blow,” said the second president.

According to him, it is impossible to do all of this with the current authorities. “It will never happen. Just one incident: a few months before the war began, if I am not mistaken, a person was appointed as the director of the security service, whose task was to rid it of Russian agents, presumed to be those who had received education in Russia. Just a few months before the war. How could you imagine cooperation with that service with Russian special services during wartime? Cooperation between special services is crucial during any war, extremely significant—information exchange, and so on, I will not go into details. And a person is appointed with such a mission. Later, that person was removed from work. But he remained close to Arayik Harutyunyan until the very end, not leaving that building. And every day, he was reporting on various matters; to whom, I don’t know. There is a good Russian word for this: “двурушничество,” I do not know if there is an equivalent in Armenian. In such conditions of двурушничество, it is impossible to have a reputation as a reliable partner. It will not happen. Yes, there can be protocol-level greetings and smiles, but you will always keep your finger bent,” he concluded.