Ministry of Defense on Controversial Statements by Relatives of Soldiers Who Died in Barracks Fire

Relatives of soldiers who died in a barracks fire in the village of Azat have made controversial statements during interviews with the media. Specifically, in response to a media question regarding whether a soldier had spent money to extend a water line, the grandfather of Aram Manukyan, a soldier from Vanadzor who perished in the fire, stated, "The kids contributed money, they pulled the water... the kids collected money and excavated a new water line..."

Another source from a different media outlet reported, "The father of one of the soldiers from Vardenis provided electrical wires out of his own pocket, and they installed them so that the soldiers could have electricity (referring to the barracks in the village of Azat). They pulled the wiring, but the Ministry of Defense did not even install a meter, and they used the electricity for a year without a meter, probably charging the municipality for it. During this time, no senior military officer or representative of the Ministry of Defense has come to see what conditions they are in."

When asked if it was possible to heat the area electrically, the source replied, "It was entirely possible to heat it electrically, but who was going to bring the heater, the situation was completely neglected."

Auroranews.am had sent a query to the Ministry of Defense on January 26, asking for a comment on the statements made by the relatives of the fallen soldiers and whether these statements align with reality. If the information is correct, how is it possible that the soldiers stationed in the mentioned house have been without the necessary basic conditions (water, electricity) since 2020? Why weren't these issues resolved prior to the deployment of the soldiers?

We also inquired why no senior military officers or representatives from the Ministry of Defense visited the address from 2020 until the day of the tragedy to monitor the compliance of conditions with legal standards? If visits occurred, we requested information on when and who those officials were and why no obvious violations, which have been repeatedly mentioned by the Minister of Defense, the Prime Minister, and the Head of the Investigative Committee in their official statements, were recorded.

Today, on March 1, we received a response to our inquiry. The Ministry of Defense stated in particular, "No funds have been raised for digging a water line for the personnel of the engineering reconnaissance platoon; the water line was excavated using the engineering equipment attached to the platoon. Materials and equipment have been allocated to the units according to the submitted requests. According to surveys conducted among soldiers by the unit's command, no information has been substantiated regarding the provision of electrical wires by any soldier's parent for ensuring electricity."

According to the response, the Ministry of Defense seems to refute claims about the soldiers pooling funds and their relatives pulling