We Should Have Had Our Own Drones: President’s Interview with RBC

President Armen Sarkissian has given an exclusive interview to Ilya Doronov, the General Director of the Russian RBC television channel, in which he addressed the 44-day war.

Below is the Q&A session on the topic:

Ilya Doronov: We are meeting at a time that coincides with the anniversary of the end of the war which took place a year ago. What do you think, what lessons has Armenia learned in this past year?

Armen Sarkissian: It’s hard to say what lessons have been learned because time is necessary for that; even a year is not enough. Any war brings tragedy but it was a dual tragedy because of the global coronavirus pandemic. During such large-scale global tragedies, we, as human beings living on this planet, should collaborate and communicate more with each other rather than engaging in war. All this reminds me of Kipling’s book about the jungle, where, when there is a fire or water scarcity, even animals gather at the waterhole and do not fight. It was indeed very tragic. We were simultaneously losing mainly young lives.

We can maybe talk about real lessons 10 or 20 years later when true history is written. However, one thing was clear: Armenia was not ahead of Azerbaijan in terms of military-technical preparedness; it was behind.

Ilya Doronov: This time you dealt with drones?

Armen Sarkissian: When I say we were behind, I mean that we should have had our own drones because Azerbaijan mostly used Turkish and Israeli drones. Armenia should have been prepared for such a war, a 21st-century war.

Ilya Doronov: Armenia was behind, but why did it fall behind? Was it because everyone was confident that they could win at any time, recalling the 1990s?

Armen Sarkissian: That is a much more fundamental and serious question because there is a trend worldwide today — we pretend. We pretend that we are doing something; we pretend we have democracy (I am not talking about Armenia specifically but generally); we pretend that we have a very high level of science… The worst is when we start believing in all the things we pretend. We reassure ourselves, and this is very dangerous. Yes, Armenia was victorious in the first war. But what does it mean historically? 26 years have passed, and during those 26 years, it was possible and necessary to create a truly strong army, to strengthen our economy, to elevate relations between Russia and Armenia to a completely different level. I am not saying that those relations are bad, but in my whole life, whenever I have achieved something, I have always inspired my children and students to reach further.