RA Deputy Defense Minister on situation at borders, sending of  Armenian Armed Forces to Kazakhstan and personnel changes in Defense  Ministry  

ArmInfo.RA Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsyan does not consider that the situation at the border is tense.

Thus, in a conversation with journalists in the RA Parliament,  answering a relevant question, he assured that if the situation were  tense, the society would know about it. "In general, there have been  and will be provocations in the form of a violation of the ceasefire  regime. However, the situation is not so tense, although no one can  say at what moment everything can change, "he said, while urging to  follow the official reports of the RA Ministry of Defense in this  regard and assured that the defense department informs the public in  a timely manner and does not conceal anything. The deputy minister  left unanswered the question of the expediency of sending Armenian  troops to Kazakhstan in the current situation, when the Armenian  borders are protected by the Russian military. To the remark that the  opposition does not agree with sending the military to Kazakhstan  despite the fact that the borders of Armenia are in such a state, the  deputy minister said that the opposition can express its opinion, but  there are no risks, since in case of escalation a unit of 100 people  will not change the situation.

Sargsyan also suggested not trying to see only the bad in everything,  stressing that criticism must be objective, so that the authorities  learn lessons and try to work even better.

"The data on the number of our divisions in Kazakhstan were made  public and it was clearly indicated what function they perform, that  is, the function of protecting the most important objects," he said,  but at the same time he found it difficult to say when they would be  withdrawn from Kazakhstan, while recalling what was originally said  about the limited duration of the CSTO mission.

An official from the Ministry of Defense also disagreed with the fact  that the new head of the defense department, Suren Papikyan, is not  conducting a personnel "pogrom". According to him, in all state  bodies, when there is a change of head, there are also some personnel  changes.

"If you follow the information in the media, you get the impression  that serious personnel changes are taking place, but in fact there  are no problems and you cannot call it" personnel pogroms "when  several changes have taken place," he said.

To clarify the veracity of the message that the 21-year-old girl was  appointed assistant to the Minister of Defense and, if so, what  advice she can give at such a young age due to the lack of experience  of the head of the defense department, including in the defense  sector, Sargsyan stated with indignation that age does not matter in  such cases, and she can have a lot of life experience. 

The deputy minister claims that even at a very young age, one can  have the necessary experience and perform the assigned functions,  although he did not specify which ones in this case. Sargsyan also  stressed that it is not necessary to have work experience in the RA  Ministry of Defense in order to be appointed to a position in this  power body. As an illustrative example, he cited himself, assuring  that although he himself is not from the Ministry of Defense (he  previously worked in the RA Police, ed. note), he perfectly fulfills  the functions assigned to him.