Conscripts to Gradually Be Exempted from Combat Duty

The Armed Forces of Armenia will gradually exempt conscript soldiers from being included in combat rotations. This was announced today during a conversation with journalists at the Central Assembly by Colonel Sahak Sahakyan, Deputy Head of the Directorate for Personnel Management of the Armenian Armed Forces General Staff, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.

“One of the goals of the Minister of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces is to remove conscript soldiers from the front lines as much as possible. Conscript soldiers will only be engaged in training. If necessary, they will be employed as designated,” he said.

According to Sahakyan, this practice is already being implemented in one of Armenia's army corps by 90 percent. In the future, the experience is planned to be applied across all military units in Armenia. However, the possibility of implementing the program, according to the colonel, directly depends on the number of contract servicemen.

Sahakyan also reported that a new regulation has been established in the Armed Forces of Armenia, starting from this summer's draft. All recruits will begin their service in infantry training battalions, where they will remain for approximately 5 months until the completion of the training phase. After that, they will be transferred to their permanent military units through a lottery.

“The sole purpose of this directive from the Ministry of Defense is to ensure that soldiers do not engage in combat duty without complete preparation. This means that these soldiers can only be included in combat duty 5-6 months after drafting, once they have completed the entire training program,” he stated.