Power Cables Were Even Brought by a Soldier's Parent: Remarkable Details from the Burned Military Barracks

In the converted house of the village of Azat, soldiers have been left at the mercy of indifference. Yerevan Today has revealed details about the conditions of the soldiers.

Thus, in house number 20 on Street 1 in Azat village, where the 'barracks' is located, no one had lived there for about a year before the soldiers were stationed. The electricity had even been disconnected. “At that time, the father of one of the soldiers from Vardenis brought cables with his own means to connect them so that the soldiers could have electricity. He said, how can my son live in such conditions? The cables that were brought from the support pole to the house were completely old, broken, and decayed by the rain. They connected the power cables, but the Ministry of Defense didn’t even install a meter, and they used electricity without a meter for a year, probably charging it to the municipality. The command had said that we informed the rear chief, and he would take care of it. And so they prolonged it for a year. During that time, no senior military official or representative of the Ministry of Defense came to see what conditions they were living in,” our interlocutor said.

When asked whether it was possible to heat with electricity, they replied, “It was completely possible to heat with electricity, but who was going to bring a heater? It was complete chaos.”

By the way, there is another shack in the Azat village with similar conditions where soldiers live, using the owner's meter and paying every month. “They took it from their own pocket, whether the Ministry of Defense was paying or not, I don’t know.”

The media reports that our interlocutor was surprised to hear the Prime Minister’s “official version” that gasoline was used in the stove, which caused the tragedy. “All their vehicles were heavy equipment running on diesel; what does gasoline have to do with it?” he stated.

The media also mentions that the name of the interlocutor is not disclosed because the authorities immediately targeted the burned soldier and the commander of the company who gave the interview, and there are strong suspicions that they will go after the citizen who provided the information instead of clarifying the real circumstances of the incident.