ArmInfo. Armenian Deputy Minister of Defense Gabriel Balayan told a number of TV channels about the reasons for the exacerbation of the situation at the front line, the impossibility of switching to full contract military service and what surprises the head of the Defense Ministry David Tonoyan said about the acquisition of arms by Armenia. Balayan touched the summer conscription.
So, on the question of what caused the current tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border, Balayan assured that the Armenian armed forces gave an equivalent response to the killing and wounding of Armenian soldiers, stated that both sides are now actively engaged in engineering, strengthened their positions, and this is most likely caused by enemy activity. According to him, the Armenian side prevents any attempt to move the enemy forward, or the implementation of this kind of engineering work, which in the future may give him an advantage over our combat positions. "To a certain extent, the reason for the tension is in this. In this regard, I would like to urge the expert community and journalists to carefully check the data on the situation on the front line, obtained from so-called ," said Balayan.
Meanwhile, referring to the procurement of arms by Armenia and the statement of Defense Minister David Tonoyan that surprises are expected in this area, the deputy minister confirmed that surprises are really expected, which will also affect the purchase of weapons and their production on the spot. "So far, I think we should limit ourselves to the statement of the minister, however, soon we will have the opportunity to publicly state them," Balayan said.
Touching upon the organization of the summer draft, Balayan assured that everything is proceeding in a natural way. At the same time, he reported an increase in the number of draftees this year, and this despite the fact that an unprecedented step was taken from the Ministry of Defense, namely, a postponement from service to recruits with secondary special education was given. According to him, the figure is quite tangible, and even so, there is a positive balance in the number of draftees.
To clarify what are the prospects for the transition of Armenia to a fully professional army, Balayan stated that this is impossible at least as long as the RA armed forces are not involved in the security of the state border.