How Did They Allow the Military-Political Leadership to Be Captured? Kocharyan

I have repeatedly mentioned the dangers of Ruben Vardanyan's presence in Artsakh. I still believe that his trip to Artsakh poses a mysterious problem, which was also present in his actions in Artsakh until the last moment. This was stated by Andranik Kocharyan, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee and a member of the ruling Civil Contract party, in an interview with NEWS.am.

“Ruben Vardanyan claimed until the last moment that he would never leave Artsakh, but based on some assurances, he decided to leave through the Lachin Corridor. In my perspective, those assurances were wrong. Now, Ruben Vardanyan must be able to refute the charges during the trial. As for what Armenia is doing, the Prime Minister mentioned in a press conference that actions regarding the return of captives should not be publicized,” he said.

Andranik Kocharyan continued, “Do you not have a question how it was possible for people, who were always under protection, to be captured? What were the protectors doing, how did they allow the military-political leadership to be captured? They possessed high-level information of state secrecy. All those protectors successfully crossed the border and are now in Armenia. No matter how much they say we executed their orders and went for self-sacrifice, this is not the case. State security structures are obligated to address their assigned tasks until the very last moment.

“During the work of the investigative committee, we could only hear from Samvel Shahramanyan, but if time had allowed, we should have received answers about how they were captured, where they were located, what agreements were in place with the Russian peacekeeping forces, perhaps at a higher level,” Kocharyan emphasized, not ruling out the possibility of a breach of agreements. He noted that the Russian peacekeepers had a mission concerning the safety of each individual, especially the political leadership.