Tiran Khachatryan Details Requests for Equipment to Clear Snow During Crisis

“Nikol Pashinyan is a fool, stupid, liar... how should I respond?” This was the reaction of former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, Lieutenant General Tiran Khachatryan, to Pashinyan's statements that some generals have become pamphlet distributors.

In an interview with Yerevan.Today, Lieutenant General Khachatryan made some interesting revelations: “He made a statement that ‘I said to deal with fortification work, and they did not.’ However, we applied several times for the appropriate equipment to be provided, at least to clear the snow and deliver personnel to their positions, but they did not provide it. Funds should have been increased to address relevant issues, but instead of increasing them, they reduced the planned resources. We presented various problematic issues and he promised to find a solution, but did nothing.”

Regarding Pashinyan's claim of standing behind the Armed Forces and generals, Khachatryan stated, “He has never, at any moment, been behind us. He has failed to organize the most primitive support issues that he was supposed to manage. Personally, as a front commander, I requested that if the relevant issues were not being resolved, at least to set up blockade units to stop fleeing personnel; he did not organize even that. I am not even mentioning the remaining weapons, ammunition, and the use of diplomatic channels.”

Moreover, concerning the lies about proposals made on October 19 and 20 regarding enclaves, Khachatryan stated, “He claims he disagreed about those enclaves... The version of the agreement he sent, I learned about too late, I saw it in the end when I discussed this issue with the minister. I said, what do the enclaves have to do with the ceasefire? We also insisted that he at least exclude that.”

According to the general, only the supreme commander can authorize the launch of any kind of missile. “The question arose that a missile should have been launched, and there was an issue of coordinating with the Russians, to which he behaved as if he was in charge: ‘who are the Russians? I am the one who decides’,” he remarked.

Regarding when the final answers concerning the issues related to the war will be provided, Khachatryan stated that they, led by Onik Gasparyan, demanded the establishment of a commission to conduct an inquiry, but it was never done. “Let a judicial case be opened now. If he says, ‘this is how it was, that is how it was,’ let there be an appropriate process, and we will see who did what, what should have been done, and who did not do anything. For our analysis, people are being removed from positions; the question is why? Because he has presented all his shortcomings.”

In 2019, we conducted exercises and presented 62 deficiencies related to them, none of which were addressed at all. In one year, not a single deficiency or problematic issue has been resolved. We present that outsourcing is unnecessary, that it is an unnecessary expense, etc.; he has turned it into a topic of glorification, as if before the soldier was starving. He was concerned only with trivial matters, meaning his intellect has simply been limited to that,” he concluded.

Tiran Khachatryan denies that soldiers, as Pashinyan says, were fed fodder in the past, and he indignantly remarked, “How can such a thing be?! The same dining facility is used by officers and responsible individuals; we eat the same food. Were we fed fodder and then served it to the soldiers? How can that be? If it was fodder, were all command personnel animals? According to Pashinyan’s perception, this is how it is, because he is an animal,” he said.