Minister of Defense Dismisses Haykaz Bagmanyan from Armed Forces: Factinfo

Sources at the Ministry of Defense of Armenia report that the Minister of Defense has dismissed Lieutenant General Haykaz Bagmanyan from the Armed Forces.

It is noteworthy that Haykaz Bagmanyan had been relieved of his position as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization on December 31, 2020, but he had continued to serve in the ranks until he transitioned to a new post.

On February 28, he announced that he supports the statement of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces demanding Prime Minister Pashinyan's resignation.

“I do not believe the Armed Forces made this statement without deep consideration. I think they made a serious decision, and I support it. A defeated leader of the country cannot remain in his position; he should have resigned back on November 10. Now he is trying to repeat what happened on March 1, just like in 2008: gunfire, burning cars, and so on. I believe recordings from 2008 exist, showing how happy they were when the gunfire began,” Bagmanyan stated.

As a result, the Minister of Defense has decided to dismiss the military officer who criticized Pashinyan from the army entirely.

Former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Haykaz Bagmanyan, joins the declarations of the generals, officers, and commanders of the Armed Forces units. No comments have yet been obtained from official sources.