Karen Karapetyan starts staff purges in government

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan has started staff purges in the government.  On September 16 he dismissed Prime Minister Advisors Gagik Khachatryan and Aram Ananyan. At the same time he appointed Gagik Martirosyan as the chief Advisor, who earlier headed Ministry of Energy and Committee for Water Resources of Armenia. Besides, the new Prime Minister dismissed Deputy Minister-Head of Government Administration Gurgen Dumanyan.

To note, according to ArmInfo's sources, the ministerial office will also undergo some changes.  For instance, Head of the Armenian President's Staff Vigen Sargsyan will be appointed foreign minister, and the incumbent Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will be sent to France as an ambassador.  It is not ruled out that National Security Council Secretary Armen Gevorgyan will replace Vigen Sargsyan as the head of the President's Staff. In that case, the Security Council will become part of the President's Administration. According to the source, Head of the Customs Service Hovik Hovsepyan may be dismissed in the near future. The former Prosecutor General, Gevorg Kostanyan, will replace Yuri Vardanyan as Armenia's Ambassador to Georgia.