The Aim is to Distract the Public: Movses Hakobyan

The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia is demanding the recovery of approximately 4.3 billion AMD from former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General-Major Movses Hakobyan, and former Chief of the Missile and Artillery Forces, General-Major Armen Harutyunyan, in a case involving the acquisition of "unfit military equipment." According to the allegations, due to "official negligence, unfit military equipment worth 4.3 billion AMD was delivered from Russia to Armenia nine years ago."

In an interview with 24News, Movses Hakobyan stated that he does not accept the charges. He mentioned that he cannot comment on Armen Harutyunyan's situation, but as far as he knows, Harutyunyan had spent a year in detention over this case before being acquitted, only to face accusations again now.

"I bear no responsibility; my position is such that I am not accountable for that. I did not make a decision, I had no right to make a decision, ask them why they are accusing me. Three cases have already been annulled on the basis of incorrect information, and one case remains. This case will have the same fate, the goal is to give journalists a case and distract the public from issues. Do not worry, everything will be fine," Hakobyan explained.

Movses Hakobyan noted that a bail of 10 million AMD and a restriction on leaving the country have been imposed on him. However, the court has lifted the ban on leaving the country, and regarding the bail of 10 million AMD, he stated that his accounts are under arrest, "but these are solvable issues, there is no problem." On July 21, 2016, a contract was signed between the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the Russian company "Rosoboronexport," which was signed on behalf of Armenia by Movses Hakobyan, who was then the Deputy Minister of Defense and Head of the Material Technical Support Department. The contract involved the purchase of 15 sets of "Aistyonok" type radar stations.