Who is David Galstyan, Patron Davo, through whom 95% of the Armenian Army's procurements, including arms, are made?

The war between Artsakh and Azerbaijan that began on September 27 of last year has passed about three months, yet the Armenian authorities continue to leave the circulating information regarding the possible causes of defeat unanswered. Some explanations are, of course, provided, but they are not deep or comprehensive and raise even more questions.

As has been noted repeatedly, one of the main issues of our defeat in the war is the corruption scandal related to arms procurement. David Galstyan, known to the public as Patron Davo, has been a focal point of discussion in the media regarding this issue for a long time. According to the same information, 95% of arms procurements for the Armenian army are carried out through David Galstyan.

But who is David Galstyan, Patron Davo, and what information is being circulated about him, to which neither Galstyan nor the Armenian Ministry of Defense has responded? According to media reports, Galstyan is a shareholder in several specialized companies. He is one of the owners of the "Kalashnikov" factory operating in Armenia and has become the president of the production foundation, Royalsys Engineering.

Galstyan also has close ties with the current authorities and is quite close to former Minister of Defense David Tonoyan, through whose permission, it can be said, Galstyan has conducted all processes regarding arms supplies. And it seems that he has also become a favorite of political authorities, as all the scandalous publications related to Galstyan bear no consequences and are not subject to investigation. Now that Tonoyan is no longer Minister of Defense, his confidant continues to enjoy the favor of the authorities.

According to a report by Para TV, David Galstyan supplies arms to Armenia through his two offshore companies registered in the Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. "One document shows that the end beneficiary is the Turkish Ministry of Defense, to which Galstyan's company, Moston Engineering, has sold arms. The 10 million 500 thousand bullets sold by David Galstyan to the Turks constitute at least a 10-year stockpile for the Armenian army. The monopolist businessman buys arms and ammunition from CIS member countries, benefiting from a 40% discount for CIS countries, which is then converted into cash when sold to non-CIS member Turkey.

Moreover, yesterday, Civilnet published information that David Galstyan has been involved as a defendant in one of the criminal cases investigated by the National Security Service. "Using their official positions by the officials of the Ministry of Defense, coming to a preliminary agreement with the employees of the commercial enterprises, including Galstyan's Moston Engineering, to acquire products with the large sums of money provided to them from the state budget, a decision has been made to involve David Galstyan as a defendant in a criminal case investigated by the investigative department of the NSS,” stated the NSS.

Galstyan has been charged with embezzlement of particularly large amounts," the newspaper writes.