NATO-Compliant Body Armor and Helmet Factory Closed During Pashinyan's Tenure: Edgar Ghazaryan

During Nikol Pashinyan's administration, the activities of the Armenian-Polish company "Lublava-Armenia," which produced NATO-compliant body armor, helmets, and camouflage nets for observation devices, have been suspended. The Armenian Ministry of Defense owned 50% of this enterprise. This was reported by Edgar Ghazaryan, former head of the Constitutional Court staff, former governor, and ambassador.

It is noteworthy that back in May 2019, the former ambassador of Poland to Armenia, Jerzy Marek Nowakowski, made harsh comments, indicating that Armenia was in a worse situation than before, especially regarding investments. According to him, there is a possibility that "Lublava-Armenia," the first Armenian-Polish joint defense industry enterprise that has been operating in Armenia since 2014, may exit the country. He mentioned that he learned about this in a private conversation but didn't disclose much.

The Verelq.am news site highlighted this topic back in 2019, noting that in 2017, it became known that the enterprise produced $1.7 million worth of equipment for the Armenian armed forces.

Interestingly, we could not find "Lublava-Armenia" LLC on the official website in the state registry. It later became clear that the company registered under the code 02810067 operates under a different name, "ChTG Group" LLC. It remains unclear whether the company was originally registered under this name or if it was changed later. Attempts to reach the company using the contact numbers listed on their website were unsuccessful, possibly due to a holiday.

According to the company's official website, the enterprise is located in Charentsavan city at 2/1 Isayan Street. The status of the company is listed as "active" in the State Revenue Committee's taxpayer search system. However, according to the SRC data, the company has been operating at a loss for years. In 2016, it ranked 109th among those declaring losses, with a negative indicator of 265 million drams. These are the data we managed to find from open sources.

Based on information provided by our source in the Ministry of Defense, the company's products are significantly more expensive in terms of cost-effectiveness, and the Armenian side is not particularly inclined to purchase its military equipment. The ambassador's statement suggests that this may not be coincidental, as the enterprise is considering leaving Armenia.

It is intriguing that the company has been operating at a loss for years and its products are not deemed suitable for procurement by the Armenian side. Speculation arises as to why this enterprise, which has reported hundreds of millions of drams in losses over the past few years, is now declaring its intention to leave Armenia. One can only speculate if this is linked to a re-evaluation of the rules of the game in the Ministry of Defense following the change of power in Armenia and the significant curtailment of corruption schemes.

In a 2015 interview with Mediamax, the company’s director, Jaroslav Rukh, stated that the main customer and consumer of the products is the Armenian Ministry of Defense. He also added that the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations of Armenia utilizes its products. In a conversation with Aysor.am, Jaroslav Rukh mentioned that only 20% of the enterprise's output serves military purposes, while the remaining 80% is civilian products. The body armor, according to him, is produced with two types of inserts—ceramic (weighing about 3 kg and can withstand Dragunov sniper rifle shots) and Kevlar (weighing about 1.5 kg and resistant to Kalashnikov rifle shots).

The head of the Ministry of Defense's defense industry department, Colonel Murad Isakhanyan, stated that the organization was founded on a 51%-49% ratio, with 51% belonging to the Polish "Lublava" and 49% to the Armenian Ministry of Defense. This is also enshrined in a government decision, which specifies that the management rights to the state share of "Lublava-Armenia" are reserved for the Ministry of High-Tech Industry.

According to Media.am, "Lublava" was also included in the list of loss-making companies in 2017 and 2018, although the amounts of losses were not specified. This is despite the fact that the enterprise has been included among taxpayers declaring over 10 million drams for years. Additionally, Azdarar.am reports that the LLC director, Jaroslav Pavel Rukh, was held administratively liable in 2020 for failing to pay the company's taxes on time.