Director of NSS assures that kinship and crony ties did not play any  role in Feliks Tsolakyan and Garegin Baghramyan`s appointments  

ArmInfo. The director of the National Security Service, Artur Vanetsyan, assures that the kinship ties did not play any role in appointing Feliks Tsolakyan and Garegin  Baghramyan to the positions of heads of the Ministry of Emergency  Situations and the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural  Resources.

This was stated by the Director of the National Security  Service Artur Vanetsyan on October 16 after a government meeting in  an interview with journalists.  According to Vanetsyan, Feliks  Tsolakyan (recently appointed to the post of head of the Emergencies  Ministry. ed. note), is one of the experienced employees of the  National Security Service. "When I joined the National Security  Service, he was already a high-ranking official. I respect Feliks  Tsolakyan very much as a person, a military man and a statesman, but  he is not my godfather.

My godfather is an ordinary person, his name  is Vardan Kulidzhanyan. This is disinformation, recently it's  customary to write in any article "Vanetsyan and something else," and  this immediately becomes a sensation, "he said. As for the  appointment of Garegin Baghramyan to the post of Minister of Energy  Infrastructures and Natural Resources, Artur Vanetsyan said:" Leave  aside that Garegin Baghramyan is Arthur Vanetsyan's brother-in- law.  I want to ask everyone the question: is there any other reason for  which Garegin Baghramлan can be blamed for this or that act. "In  addition, Artur Vanetsyan stated that he does not have authority to  intervene in the process of appointing one official or another.

To recall, Margarita Azaryan, mother of the Director of the National  Security Service of Armenia (NSS) Artur Vanetsyan, was appointed by  the decision of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashiyann on June  27 to the position of head of the personnel department and personnel  management of the RA Prime Minister's Office.

Margarita Azaryan,  worked for many years in the presidential administration: in 2002-  2011 was a member of the Civil Service Council, and in January 2011  she was appointed head of the personnel department of the  Presidential Administration. She is also a member of the Management  Board of the State Academy of Management of Armenia.