Serzh Sargsyan admits that corruption and protectionism took place at conscription

ArmInfo. In a few months,  the governance system in Armenia will completely change, and the  reforms in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia should also be  consonant with this. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated in an  interview with "Armenia" TV channel.

He noted that the RA Armed Forces were constantly modernized,  replenished with new equipment, reformed, but the forthcoming  transformations will be deeper, aimed at the future. "We should not  proceed from how much we can invest in the Armed Forces, but how much  to invest." The strategy philosophy has changed," the head of state  said, stressing that the army for a long time managed with what was  allocated to it, meanwhile, now it is necessary to do more, and there  are means for this.

Referring to the Global Military index, according to which Armenia is  recognized as the three most militarized state in the world, Sargsyan  noted: "First, our omission is that immediately after the appearance  of such information we do not conduct explanatory work among the  public. Such ratings are guided by different criteria, sometimes not  entirely real. This rating was compiled taking into account the unit  of military equipment coming per capita. In other conditions, it is  unlikely that there would be a need to maintain such an army in a  three-million state, but this path was imposed on us, this is the  minimum that ensures our security. And April 2016 showed that we do  not allow ourselves excesses in this regard. On the one hand, we are  accused of being inferior to Azerbaijan in terms of armed equipment,  on the other, we are accused of being a militarized state. How is  this to be understood?"

Speaking about the sensational law on the status of servicemen and  military duty, which provides for the cancellation of deferment from  military service for students and entrants, Sargsyan stated that  studying in a university should not become a method of evading  military service. At the same time, he assured that especially  talented young people will still have the opportunity not to serve in  the army and develop their talent. "But we must be sure that these  are really talented people," the president said. In addition, he  said, the new system allows you to exclude corruption and  protectionism when calling in the Armed Forces.  "Previously, we were  accused that young people from well-off families used the deferral  system, and this really took place, now the new system will exclude  such a possibility, as everyone will be called upon whose state of  health it allows to serve in the army," the president said. This is  the prevailing view that the new system will negatively affect the  quality of higher education. According to the president, after the  introduction of the new system of conscription, the quality of higher  education, on the contrary, will improve. The President also  negatively commented on the sounding proposals on the need to limit  the ability of individuals who did not serve in the army to receive  high state debts. "I am absolutely against this, this is a violation  of human rights and the laws of the country.If we have been given the  opportunity to not serve in the army in accordance with the law, now  we can not infringe on his rights because of this.  army for health  reasons, are they guilty of this and should be deprived of the  opportunity for career advancement because of this?" summed up the  head of state.