Samvel Babayan's Press Service Clarification Regarding Accusations by Movses Hakobyan

Samvel Babayan's press service has released a statement in response to the accusations voiced by Movses Hakobyan, the former secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Artsakh, on April 20, during a broadcast on 'Channel 5'. The statement reads: 'In response to the accusations made by M. Hakobyan, it is evident that he distorts facts with a biased approach, thereby placing interpersonal issues at the center of state defense and security concerns.

Specifically, during the interview, Movses Hakobyan expressed thoughts regarding Samvel Babayan allegedly 'implementing desires during wartime,' 'forming units in the rear,' 'withdrawing soldiers from the front line,' 'how many bullets to fire,' 'inflicting significant damage on frontline units,' and as a result, 'not fulfilling any tasks,' among other accusations.

For clarification, we inform that on September 27, 2020, in order to confront the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan, a recruitment process for reservists was initiated at the initiative of the Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh, in accordance with the relevant directives of the President of Artsakh. Under the direct leadership of Grigori Sahakyan, the head of the relevant department of the Security Council’s office, two battalions and three separate companies, including an assault unit, were formed. Before undertaking combat missions, these units underwent a week of combat training for coordination purposes.

The units received and successfully carried out combat tasks in various directions on the front line. Specifically, the first unit was formed on October 1, with its deployment site chosen as the Revan village in the Askeran region. On October 7, the battalion-equivalent unit was given the combat task of making a march along the route of Revan-Stepanakert-Karmir Shuka-Hadrut-Jrakan (Jabrail) to occupy the designated terrain to subsequently participate in an offensive.

The command structure of this unit included: battalion commander Aram Avagyan, and company commanders Garegin Stepanyan, Valeri Sargsyan, and Vardan Khachatryan. On October 8, the battalion units attacked the enemy positions located in the direction of Kynd-Horadiz. During the assault, the battalion succeeded in capturing five combat posts and fortified those positions, where they continued to engage in positional battles until October 9, inflicting losses on the enemy’s personnel and armored vehicles while awaiting an organized larger operation by the senior state, which never materialized.

After unequal battles and sustaining losses, the unit retreated to its starting positions on October 9, then into the city of Hadrut to clarify future combat tasks. In the Kynd-Horadiz combat positions, the unit experienced three fatalities (Aram Mkrtchyan, Hakob Arakelyan, Aram Poghosyan) and dozens of injuries. Notably, as a result of operations in this direction, it was possible to extract 19 temporary and contract servicemen from encirclement.

From October 10, the battalion was divided into two parts. The first and second companies, under the command of Aram Avagyan, were transferred to Kyavak, towards the church (Mengelenatha) highland for the capture and defense of a new designated position, where they engaged in defensive battles until October 24. From October 25 to November 15, these two companies performed combat duty in the section between the villages of Sargsashen and Aknaghbyur. During these engagements, one reservist (Arsen Davtyan) was killed. Some units of the company also participated in the defense of Karin Tak and the assault on Shushi.

On October 10, the third company, led by Garegin Stepanyan, was moved for recovery to the village of Vank in the Martakert region, where it was replenished with new members of the newly formed battalion. From October 15, according to a government decision of Artsakh, reservist battalions were created in the villages of Vank (commander: Armen Hakobyan) and Drmbon (commander: Artak Arustamyan), and a company in the village of Haterk (commander: Samvel Arustamyan), adding to the 99212 sanitary battalion. From October 15 to 22, one-week combat training sessions were organized in these newly created battalions and companies.

From October 23 to November 3, the Vank battalion was involved in combat duty, initially with the Assault Third Company in the 7th PSh, first in 8 then in 4 additional combat positions (a total of 12 combat positions). On November 3, a combat rotation was carried out at the positions of the 7th PSh. The Drmbon battalion replaced the Vank battalion and carried out combat duty at the specified positions until November 17. In the positions of the 7th PSh, the Drmbon battalion suffered 2 fatalities (Aragatz Avanesyan, Mikayel Mkrtumyan) and 4 injuries from November 3 to 4.

On November 5, a detachment of the third assault company participated in the defense of Karin Tak and was subsequently engaged in the assault on Shushi on November 6. During the assault on Shushi, the third company sustained 3 fatalities (Artash Qalayyan, Arsen Apresyan, Vadim Hovhannesyan) and 12 injuries. After the assault, in the second half of November 6, the company was withdrawn to the recovery area.

From November 5 to 10, the Vank battalion was involved in the defense of the Nerkin Sznak-Shosh sector, during which the battalion had 3 fatalities (Alexey Makiyan, Artak Avagimyank, Vahagn Seyranian) and 6 injuries. Also, on October 19, a serviceman (Melsik Ghazaryan) from the Vank battalion was killed while serving in the 5th PSh. The separate company from Haterk was performing combat duty in 4 combat positions, covering open areas in the delineation sections of 38 Ahqm and the 7th PSh. There were no casualties or injuries during these battles.

During combat actions, the personnel of the Vank and Araja villages' companies, for various reasons, refused to participate in the planned operation on October 5-6. The units created by the initiative of the Security Council did not refuse participation in any operations aside from the aforementioned. It is also noteworthy that in order to create and reinforce battalions proposed by the Security Council of Artsakh, only about 70 servicemen from the 5th PSh were withdrawn from the front line. This withdrawal did not pose any hindrance to the execution of combat tasks by the 5th PSh, and no positions were surrendered by the 5th PSh during battles. The other members who reinforced the units were mainly reservists, volunteers from various locations, and conscripts who had remained outside of other units for various reasons. Overall, about 650 servicemen were involved across all units, of which 13 were killed and 45 injured during the combat operations. We find it inappropriate to disclose further details of the activities of the units formed at the initiative of the Secretary of the Security Council considering many objective and subjective factors.'