Leadership of the Armenian Armed Forces during the War Was Horribly Executed, Contradicting All Rules of War - Norat Ter-Grigoryants

During the conversation with 'Factinfo', Norat Ter-Grigoryants, Lieutenant General of the USSR and RF Armed Forces, former Chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, and acting Minister of Defense in 1993, stated that Azerbaijan could not defeat the defense army alone, which is why it involved Turkey and attacked the small Artsakh.

Standing at the roots of the Armenian army's formation, Norat Ter-Grigoryants noted that the army they created was very strong, powerful, organized, and disciplined. It was equipped with modern military equipment for that time, providing security for Armenia against aggressive states surrounding it such as Azerbaijan, Turkey, and the not-so-friendly Georgia, for about 30 years now.

From the perspective of military security, the Armenian army and the Russian military base were established to ensure the security of the southern flank of Armenia and Russia. Before the third Artsakh war, Norat Ter-Grigoryants attempted to meet with then-Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan, anticipating possible negative developments, but it turned out that the latter did not have time for the general.

He cited that two months before the war, when he was in Yerevan, he contacted Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan and expressed a desire to meet with the minister to discuss military security issues, knowing that something bad was about to happen. However, the secretary who answered the call said the minister could not meet, citing a meeting the next day.

“Your Minister of Defense did not bother to meet with me, citing that there is a meeting tomorrow and he cannot. I told the secretary that it is 17:00 now and I can meet at any time of the day or night to talk about the security issues of Armenia and the Armed Forces, but he replied that there is a meeting tomorrow, to which I responded that the meeting is tomorrow, but today is still evening, and there is night ahead,” recounted the lieutenant general, adding that this was, of course, insulting, as the minister did not understand the importance of the issue, while he could have collaborated on many matters for the army and the interests of Armenia.

“They probably did not want to, perhaps fearing that I might prevent some erroneous plans from being implemented,” said Ter-Grigoryants.

Regarding the current situation in the army, the lieutenant general noted that it is the conscience of the Prime Minister and the President, but the practice in Artsakh showed that the army could not ensure security, air defense, and failed in providing concealment, and it was the leadership and the ministry that did not do this.

“The lack of normal engineering equipment in the Artsakh direction led to the enemy marching in like a parade and capturing Hadrut, Jabrail, Kubatlu, etc., while there was no anti-tank defense, no engineering barriers. This means that the Ministry of Defense and the military leadership did not act correctly, violated the rules of war, political and military operations,” he noted, emphasizing the need to rearm the army with modern weapons, giving examples of planes that were purchased when hundreds of drones could have been bought instead.

According to the lieutenant general, the purchased planes (referring to the SU-30 fighter jets) cannot do anything, as during this time, Russia sold Turkey S-400 anti-aircraft missiles, which are located near the Armenian border specifically to destroy those planes. Moreover, these planes are supersonic and the terrain does not allow for any military problem-solving through those planes because immediately after taking off, they might violate the borders of Nakhichevan or Georgia; therefore, as Ter-Grigoryants noted, the territory of Armenia does not allow for the use of such supersonic planes.

He stated that attention should be paid to engineering equipment, concealment systems, and ensure multiple rocket launch systems, to have long-range systems, even though there are Soviet-era Russian weapons that are good, but time is moving forward, tactics are changing, operational art is evolving, and techniques must change the rules of war.

He noted that Azerbaijan has armed itself in such a way that it won using Turkish and Israeli UAVs, because our soldiers, sergeants, and officers in Artsakh are excellent, devoted patriots who resisted the armies of radical Islamists for 44 days.

When asked whether it turns out that the war was lost by the political leadership, Ter-Grigoryants responded, mentioning that the Armenian people should hold accountable those whom they elected; he personally did not elect anyone and is not entitled to express opinions on political matters, but noted that the leadership of the Armed Forces of Armenia during this war was executed horrifically, contrary to all the rules of war, abnormally, chaotically, and disorganized.

He stated that the war had just begun, but the Supreme Commander of Armenia was calling on volunteers to come and participate in military operations. “Why volunteers? What do volunteers have to do with this? Was this a guerrilla war? There are armed forces there; volunteers are not needed. My program called the mobilization plan needed to be implemented, and the Armed Forces should have been brought to a complete state of readiness. This needed to be done, and by involving volunteers, they entangled the entire army system,” Ter-Grigoryants stated, also adding that, theoretically, if an engineer officer volunteers to go to the battlefield, they give him an automatic rifle at the military commission, not using his capabilities correctly; whereas during mobilization, he would go to the battlefield as an engineering officer and be in his place.

Our interlocutor expressed indignation regarding the disorganization, questioning who was the advisor to the Prime Minister or the Minister of Defense, stating that they make foolish decisions, endangering the soldiers as well. He emphasized the importance of knowing history, referencing how Stalin formed the State Defense Committee during the Great Patriotic War, instead of taking advisors who have no understanding of military science.

Lieutenant General Norat Ter-Grigoryants also recalled that a number of experienced officers were dismissed from their positions before the war, implying a desire for defeat in the war. “I do not understand what kind of policy this is when all the officers with higher education and a sound understanding of what to do have been dismissed from their positions, why, so that the enemy can crush them?” he mentioned, stating that he even established contact with Andranik Kocharyan, indicating that a war would soon occur, while those in power were removing all experienced generals, to which Kocharyan responded that if the general or officer committed an offense, they should be held accountable; however, according to Ter-Grigoryants, in such cases, there should be warnings, as it concerns people who know the system very well.

“Can such nonsense be done before the war? It is offensive for me that such foolishness is taking place. The management system needs to be restored, the entire system must be brought to combat readiness. There are very good officers, generals, yet they criticize a certain general for saying something, thereby humiliating the general staff and lowering their rating, which, in turn, lowers the rating of the entire army. After dismissing one general, their deputies are dismissed; they fear those generals could take power? They are not ready to change the power structure. The Armed Forces of RA serve the homeland honestly. Moreover, when Armenia is surrounded by hostile countries and Russia is the only ally, and the Russian military base located in Gyumri ensures the southern borders of Armenia and Russia, certain scoundrels are making moves in front of the embassy demanding the removal of the Russian military base. Europe, Azerbaijan, and Turkey dream that Russia would no longer be there, and should it leave, it would not be long before the Turks are in Northern Avenue,” he stated.