2023 October 17

Daily news wrap-up

Military Reforms & Fortifications // Armenia & Europe // Economic Stats // Anti-corruption Arrests \\ October 17 News
by ar_david_hh

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Pashinyan visited the European Parliament

He spoke about Armenia's recent steps to ratify the Rome Statute and the September decision by the Armenian parliament to ratify Protocol N. 13 on Abolition of Death Penalty in All Circumstances (Council of Europe Convention).

... about democracy

PASHINYAN: Armenia is going through difficult trials, and so is democracy in Armenia and around the world. It raises the question: is democracy able to provide security and happiness?

I didn't come here to ask, I came here to answer: "Yes". If it wasn't for democracy, Armenia would have lost its sovereignty and would have been paralyzed after the 2020 war. The democratically formed institutions stood firm despite the attacks by extremist groups.

... accuses Russia of total inaction and conspiring with Azerbaijan to subvert Armenia's democracy

PASHINYAN: On 12 May 2021, Azerbaijani troops invaded 4 kilometers deep into our territory. The CSTO and [Russia], despite bilateral security obligations, did not help us at all.

This invasion took place shortly before the parliamentary elections. The goal was to paralyze our statehood and form a puppet government.

There have been multiple similar events. There is a pattern: Azerbaijan attacks, [Russia] displays inaction, then there are attempts to use the difficult situation to subvert our democracy and sovereignty under the direction of external forces [Russia].

But in this environment, the people of Armenia were able to stand firm in defense of our independence and democracy.

... accuses Russian peacekeepers of allowing Azerbaijan to carry out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh, then attempting to overthrow the government in Armenia, while the World stood by and watched

PASHINYAN: Azerbaijan, fulfilling its long-standing policy of ethnic cleansing, carried out a large-scale attack on Nagorno-Karabakh. At the time when hundreds of thousands of Armenians fled to Armenia, our allies in the security sector [Russia] not only did not help us, but also made public calls for a change of power in Armenia, to overthrow the democratic government.

Despite hundreds of alarms and decisions by the World Court, EP, and PACE, we were unable to prevent the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. We have urged the UN, OSCE, and EU to send fact-finding missions to the illegally blocked Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh, but no organization made a relevant decision.

We initiated three discussions related to the issue in the UN Security Council, but the discussions did not have any practical results and here, Nagorno Karabakh is already depopulated.

In the conditions of inactivity of the Russian peacekeeping force, more than 100,000 Armenians left their homeland Nagorno-Karabakh within a week, while another 20,000 were forced to abandon their homes immediately after the 2020 war.

And today some pretend they do not understand why the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh left their homes en masse. This is cynicism in itself because the answer is more than clear. Azerbaijan clearly demonstrated its decision to make the life of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh impossible.

Since December 2022, during the period of the illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh have been deprived of external supplies of gas, electricity, fuel, food, baby food, medicine, hygienic and other essential goods, while civilians engaged in agricultural work have been targeted by the Azerbaijani armed forces.

... Azerbaijan's plan against Nagorno-Karabakh

PASHINYAN: Since December 2022, we have alerted dozens of times about Azerbaijan's plan: close the Lachin Corridor, starve people, increase military, informational, and psychological pressure, then open the Lachin Corridor, forcing all Armenians to leave.

We warned loudly and publicly, so I do not accept the surprised faces of some international officials over the depopulation of Nagorno-Karabakh that took place in September.

I must thank the European Parliament for naming what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh by its name. This is important in terms of protecting the future rights of people who have been deprived of their motherland.

... Azerbaijan's plan against Armenia, regional communication routes, enclaves

PASHINYAN: Following multiple meetings hosted by Europe, I reaffirmed several times that Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of 86,600 km^2 of Azerbaijan, but the President of Azerbaijan never made such a statement. Recently, he announced that he recognizes the territorial integrity of Armenia, but did not mention 29,800 km^2, which raises concerns that he is deliberately leaving ambiguities to bring forward territorial claims against Armenia.

The next principle of peace and normalization is border delimitation based on the most recent USSR maps that have been provided to the sides, which should also be a basis for the distancing of forces, and for finalizing the peace treaty and addressing all humanitarian issues.

But Azerbaijan declares that there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which contradicts the Almaty declaration and the other agreements. Azerbaijan also maintains ambiguities in accepting the latest maps of the USSR as a basis for delimitation, which also gives some experts a reason to assume that Azerbaijan is preparing grounds for making territorial claims against Armenia and initiating a new military aggression.

Additionally, Azerbaijan continuously insists that Armenia is obliged to give Azerbaijan a corridor through its own territory. In everyday international parlance that you are familiar with, the word corridor simply means interstate roads. But there is a peculiarity in the case of our region. In the Nov. 9 Tripartite Statement, the word "corridor" is used only for the Lachin Corridor, which was supposed to connect Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. The peculiarity is that according to that document, the Lachin Corridor is not just a road, but also a 5-kilometer-wide territory, which should have been outside the control of Azerbaijan, under the control of peacekeepers. Therefore, in this context, the word corridor has the meaning of an extraterritorial layer. Armenia has never agreed to give any extraterritorial layers to Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan should open their roads for each other without the above-mentioned corridor logic. At the checkpoints of those roads, border and other relevant control services should operate, based on the jurisdiction of the countries. This should be done based on the principle of reciprocity.

We are ready to restore the Meghri railway, which will connect Armenia's north to south, Azerbaijan's east to west, and will serve as a hub to connect other countries. We called this project the "Armenian Crossroads". But I think it's time to rebrand it and call it "Crossroads of Peace". Armenia is ready to ensure the safety of cargo, vehicles, people, pipelines, and electric lines in its territory.

We want the 30-year-long blockade to be lifted. There is no reason to accuse Armenia of obstructing the opening of transport communications. However, there are analyses that official Baku is manipulating the narrative of corridor to provoke a new war, to occupy new territories of Armenia, or to keep Armenia under blockade. This should not be allowed.

Armenia is ready to facilitate procedures to ensure the safety of the passage of Azerbaijani goods and persons through Armenia, hoping for reciprocity as well, we are ready for a simultaneous withdrawal of troops from the 1991 border line, which will mean that Azerbaijan will not have troops in any territory of Armenia, and Armenia will not have troops in Azerbaijan.

We are ready to address the issue of the so-called enclaves on the principle of reciprocity.

... about peace treaty and humanitarian gestures

And finally, we are ready to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan by the end of 2023. It is unfortunate that Azerbaijan did not attend the Granada meeting. But we have an agreement to hold a tripartite meeting in Brussels soon, and if the above-mentioned principles are officially reaffirmed, signing a peace agreement by the end of the year will become very realistic.

Armenia is ready to release all prisoners, captives, and detained persons, in the principle “all for all”, and we are also ready to cooperate closely in clarifying the fate of the missing persons. 1,016 citizens of Armenia are currently considered missing.

We are ready to cooperate in demining. In 2021 Armenia received from Nagorno-Karabakh and transferred to Azerbaijan all the maps of minefields at the disposal of the Armenian side. We did this without preconditions, as an expression of goodwill, but, unfortunately, Azerbaijan perceived it not as a step towards peace, but as an opportunity to intensify aggressive rhetoric towards Armenia.

But in spite of all this, we must move steadily towards peace. To do this, political will is necessary. I and the Armenian government have that political will. I have to ask for the EU's continued attention and support to implement the aforementioned principles.

... economic cooperation with Europe; Armenia wants to strengthen relations with the EU without limits

Pashinyan spoke about the CEPA agreement, AM-EU economic programs, police and other reforms.

PASHINYAN: It is extremely important to give new momentum to the programs implemented under the EU Economic and Investment Plan. Within the framework of the Plan, projects worth more than 400 million euros have already been launched, implemented with various financial instruments, of which around 270 million euros are for access of SME to finance, around 34 million euros are for technological development, around 43 million euros are for increasing the resilience of Syunik [sothern province], and around 62 million euros are for the green development of Yerevan.

I am happy to emphasize that this is not all. On October 5 of this year, two extremely important documents for EU-Armenia relations were adopted in Granada. Both statements support the strengthening of EU-Armenia relations in all dimensions based on the needs of Armenia. We are committed to further strengthening EU-Armenia relations.

Armenia is ready to be closer to the EU, as much as the EU considers it possible. Our joint statement with President von der Leyen reads: "In these difficult times, the EU and Armenia stand shoulder to shoulder."

Let us continue to stand shoulder to shoulder in our commitment to make the times better. I am convinced that democracy can provide peace and prosperity. Let's prove this together. Long live democracy! Thank you. //

[full English text](https://www.1lurer.am/en/2023/10/17/Armenian-Prime-Minister-Nikol-Pashinyan’s-speech-at-the-European-Parliament/1015102) [video,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E6aL6WKssY) [video,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bd4nG_fgrM) [article,](https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1119279/)

interview with military expert Leonid Nersisyan

REPORTER: The events since 2020 have made us realize that relying on Russia and Russian weapons was a mistake. Is there an alternative?

LEONID: There is an alternative, and Armenia has already signed contracts with India worth almost $1 billion.

We had no issues with importing Russian weapons prior to 2020, but our biggest shortcoming during the war was organizational in nature. Knowledge and implementation are just as important as the types of weapons you buy. Buying weapons is 30%-40% of the task. We need to train officers who can use the new weapons.

Military education has been very problematic in Armenia in the past 30 years. The sense of prestige associated with graduating from Vazgen Sargsyan University came to an end about 10-15 years ago. Few people applied and it became very easy to get in. There was a lack of quality educational programs and enough dedicated applicants who wanted to become officers. This is difficult to reform when the problem has existed for several decades, but there is no other option.

Armenian military and its structure were stuck in the 1980s. Today we do have a limited number of experts capable of reforming this but many of them are not part of the army today, or they weren't allowed to display their skills during their active duty. The government must make a political decision to change this.

REPORTER: Is it possible to switch from the USSR to the NATO model?

LEONID: That's a primitive way of looking at things. Of course we should adopt the majority of concepts from NATO, but let's not forget that Armenia has its own theater of events, terrain, weather, and resources with their respective peculiarities. You can't simply bring the American doctrine here.

REPORTER: But NATO has countries that share similarities with Armenia.

LEONID: You still have to convert and make it Armenian. This is why we need skilled officers who can manage through this. Since we don't have much time to train ours, right now we could involve the paid consultancy of foreign military experts. They could be retired officers from NATO states.

REPORTER: France has already agreed.

LEONID: France has agreed at a state level to provide this type of support. But if you want British expertise, for example, you'd need to sign private deals with individual officers who retired not long ago.

REPORTER: Should Armenia switch from conscription to exclusively contractor-based military service?

LEONID: No. Quantity is still important. Today our borders are vulnerable because we don't have the necessary 80,000 soldiers to guard them. For now, we must keep conscripts but increase the share of professional contractors. If for example, we have 45,000 conscripts, we could hire another 35,000 professional contractors. We could use the conscripts to defend trenches or the rear, the simplest tasks, while the contractors could take care of counterattacks and mobile activities. During the 2020 war, our conscripts were better trained than the contractors. It was absurd.

[video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNutPP28zbc)

short video showing the last few days of Nagorno-Karabakh and the forced exodus of ethnic Armenians

[video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxJ2ISb9_rU)

interview with military expert Vova Vartanov

REPORTER: Why did Russian peacekeepers and the Kremlin allow the September 19 attack to happen? Do you have an explanation?

VOVA: I do. In 1992, shortly before the liberation of Shushi, [army commander] Vazgen Sargsyan ordered me to distract the Azerbaijani army by launching an offensive toward Mt. Odundagh [northeast, Tavush]. I named the operation plainly "Odundagh". It's dumb when the title of your operation describes its details. Anyways, the operation was successful and we were able to distract the opponent.

After the liberation of Shushi, we were alerted that Azeris were preparing a large-scale offensive. By using our informants in the USSR we learned that the Russian 104th desantnik division located in Ganja, led by Col.Gen. Selivanov, was preparing an operation on behalf of Azeris. In the Russian 104th division's training base, Russians were training 5,000 Azeris for the counteroffensive after our liberation of Ivanyan and Shushi.

As the officer tasked with collecting the intel, I reported it to Vazgen Sargsyan. Never in my dreams would I ever imagine that the Russian army itself would get involved and help Azeris to that degree.

Russia had even brought its 60th artillery division from Ilichevsk [Lenkoran] to bombard the Lachin corridor. Russia's 23rd motorized division was assaulting Martakert, Shahumyan, and Askeran regions.

I admit, at the time I did not believe that Russia could be THAT shortsighted and idiotic. Today Russia is shamefully losing its reputation around the world. They are appeasing Turkey and Azerbaijan by downplaying the assassination of their ambassador and the downing of their jets and helicopters, and more recently the murder of their peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia invaded Georgia after the death of a few peacekeepers in 2008 but didn't do anything against Azerbaijan despite having warned about "consequences" in the event of physical harm to peacekeepers.

REPORTER: What are you up to these days?

VOVA: VOMA is training volunteers with first aid skills, mountainous and urban warfare. We also build fortified structures on borders. Israel with its advanced weapons was unable to bring Hezbollah to its knees in 2006 because Hezbollah had built ground fortifications. If I wasn't an idiot, I would have initiated our fortification project 30 years ago.

In addition to these fortifications, we must pay attention to how we transport troops. Instead of having 40 soldiers in one large truck, they must move in 20 vehicles. These vehicles and ammo storages must be kept in hidden storages, in different locations. Two of the Armenian battalions in Qarvachar [mountinous area, northwest Karabakh] had no winter clothes because their centralized storages were destroyed. VOMA was able to assist and equip one battalion only. This is why it's necessary to decentralize.

REPORTER: How are you building these fortifications?

VOVA: Without disclosing secrets, I can give you a description of the construction process. At first, we build the "boiler room", then lengthy work on the metal framework, tie the apalovka, pour the concrete and use a vibrator to strengthen the concrete, remove the apalovka, and add soil on top. It's a long process but the quality makes it worth it. It underwent trials at the Defense Ministry's test ground. They bombed the shit out of it. The results were positive.

REPORTER: What weapons can we expect from France?

VOVA: Defensive weapons, air defense, radio-electronic. I don't think we should get communication systems from France because we can find cheaper alternatives elsewhere that are equally as good. France has one of the best air defense and radio-electronic weapons, and it's reflected in the price.

Making a full transition to French air defense would be wrong because we currently possess other solutions. We actually have a lot of weapons left today. Part of our existing inventory needs modernization but Russia is too busy and can't do it. We need the French air defense and radio-electronic weapons to supplement and adapt to your system.

France also has sensors that detect the location of the enemy's firing position. Our local manufacturers also have similar solutions.

Our *very good friend*, a secretary who works at the French embassy, has told us that France is offering a very good catalog of weapons. The previous secretary was only saying "France is ready to discuss it" because there were some barriers at the time. Today those barriers no longer exist and France has made a political decision to deliver the weapons.

REPORTER: We will end up having a mixture of Russian, Indian, and French weapons. Can we incorporate them into one system?

VOVA: It's a difficult task but Armenian manufacturers have come up with a solution. The company Instigate Robotics has established a Control Center. It is tasked with adapting various weapons that do not know how to communicate with each other out of the factory. The Center is in the trial phase. It's a daunting task to navigate through our super-duper-bureaucratic system.

Our problem is somewhere else. We have an imbecilic habit of training only 1-2 people to control a new weapon. We often find ourselves having to bring "naladchiks" from abroad to fix our new weapons. What if the naladchik doesn't come? Your shiny weapon will collect dust.

They have a funny situation in a superpower called Russia. They can't even fly the jets properly without accidents because they no longer have access to naladchiks from Boeing or Airbus.

One of our boys purchased a very good sniper rifle but he can't maintain his certification because bullets cost $20 so he can't afford to train constantly. My point is that you need to create a sustainable environment around your new weapon.

[video,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUOYxwtf6QE) [video,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMcnugFgtS4?t=451)

Bulgaria takes a poo-poo on Serbia and Hungary

2022 April: Russia ends gas delivery to Bulgaria after its refusal to pay in rubles. Bulgaria's territory is still used to transfer gas to Hungary and Serbia.

2023 October: Bulgaria jacks up the price for transferring gas through its territory. Hungary and Serbia will have to pay an additional €100 per cubic meter.

SERBIA: That's too high. Let's negotiate.

BULGARIA: Our territory, our fees. Look for an alternative if you don't like it.

HUNGARY: These fees are unacceptable and threaten European solidarity. Just yesterday we got hit with a price hike on oil transit through Ukraine, and now you?

BULGARIA: This price hike will generate additional €1.2 billion per year. It will pay off the construction of our Balkan Stream gas pipeline [east-west] in just one year.

EXPERT: The fee hike might not have the intended effect because it's impossible to obtain a certificate of origin for gas transported through a pipeline because it is a mixture of several sources. Such a fee may be imposed on liquefied gas transported by tankers but not on the pipeline mix.

[article,](https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/bulgaria-shocks-hungary-serbia-with-huge-transit-fees-on-russian-gas/)

the economy of Transcaucasian republics

economic growth in H1 2023

AM: 9.1%

GE: 7.5%

AZ: 0.5%

GDP per capita in H1 2023

AM: $1,852 [UPDATE: Most likely a quarterly data, not H1]

GE: $2,017

AZ: $3,497

[source,](https://factor.am/701153.html)

anti-corruption: Head of Yerevan Conservatory branch in Gyumri accused of embezzling ֏370 million

The 2012-2018 chief signed an agreement between the Conservatory and an NGO managed by her, transferring hundreds of millions of drams to the NGO. Authorities suspect corruption.

[source,](https://arka.am/en/news/society/head_of_yerevan_conservatory_branch_in_gyumri_accused_of_embezzling_more_than_370_million_drams/)

anti-corruption: Several defense officials, including the Defense Ministry's top media personality, are charged with embezzling ֏106 million

The former head of Defense Ministry's press department Gevorg Altunyan is among the five arrested officials suspected of large-scale embezzlement through forgery in weapons acquisition contracts. The alleged crimes occurred in 2019-2021. In addition to being a media personality, Altunyan was in charge of three purchase contracts.

[source,](https://factor.am/700943.html) [source,](https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/269069)

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/17a8r7i/military_reforms_fortifications_armenia_europe/