Commander of Fallen Soldiers' Squad: 'The Weakness of the Army Comes from the Chief of Staff, the Minister, the Prime Minister, After This, They Can Do What They Want with Me'

The incident occurred due to negligence and a careless approach; gasoline was used, but I am not aware of the circumstances under which it happened. This was stated by the squad commander of the burned barracks of the engineering company located in the village of Azat, Gegharkunik, during an interview with journalists.

According to him, there were 21 people inside; 15 died, 3 were injured, and another 4 servicemen were outside.

Addressing the hypothesis raised at a government session that a soldier attempted to use gasoline to light the heater, then burned himself and threw a 5-liter container towards the barracks, the commander said, “This is just a hypothesis; I cannot say, you can check with the investigation authorities.”

When asked who the alleged soldier was that poured gasoline into the heater, he responded, “Who is suggesting this? The number of victims is high; it is better not to speak in hypotheses. I have my subjective hypotheses, which I cannot voice. This is not the case. If there is death, I cannot create a hypothesis and voice it. The heater has always been lit; gasoline may have been used to intensify the fire, if we assume this hypothesis. For heating, we mainly use straw, coal; there is no gas.”

The commander also addressed the issue of responsibility. He noted that the weakness of the army comes from everyone — the Chief of Staff, the Minister, the Prime Minister. “After this, they can do what they want with me; I don't care. There is no worse thing than not being able to answer the parents,” he said.

According to him, it is illogical that the commander of the corps and his deputy were dismissed from their posts, yet the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff have not resigned. “The investigation must be conducted to the end, and the guilty must be punished with the full severity of the law. We are all responsible for this tragedy, including you, me as an officer, and so on.”

It should be noted that on January 19, at around 01:30, a fire broke out in the barracks of the engineering company of the Armenian Ministry of Defense located in the village of Azat, Gegharkunik Marz. As a result of the fire, 15 servicemen died, and 7 were injured; of these, four were discharged after receiving medical assistance, and 3 were transferred to Yerevan for treatment at the National Burn Center. The condition of two of them is assessed as serious.

Immediately after the incident, the commander of the 2nd Army Corps and seven other senior military officials were dismissed from their posts.