Pashinyan on Arshak Karapetyan`s dismissal reason and his special  relations with Moscow

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan did not rule out that when appointing Arshak  Karapetyan as Minister of Defense, his connections with Russian circles were considered.

"It is possible that in the matter of his appointment as Deputy Chief  of the General Staff, and then as Minister of Defense, his special,  close relations with a number of Russian circles were not ignored,"  he said on March 12 at a press conference.

According to him, sometimes it seems that in order for the allies to  fulfill their obligations more conscientiously, and for the security  systems to work, additional "gestures", "new oaths of allegiance" are  needed.

"Arshak Karapetyan was the Minister of Defense who served the  shortest term. When he was the first deputy chief of the General  Staff, the May 2021 developments took place, then when he was   Minister of Defense, the November 2021 developments took place. I  decided to relieve him, on the morning of November 14, 2021, he  reported to me that everything was calm along the border, while at  the time of his report, Azerbaijani troops had invaded the territory  of the Republic of Armenia in a number of sections of our border and  even took positions. Being the Minister of Defense, he either did not  know about this, or, being aware, did not inform me; in such  conditions I will not tolerate anyone," he noted.

Arshak Karapetyan was appointed Minister of Defense on August 2, 2021  by the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. On November 15 of  the same year, he was relieved of his post. On  March 6 this year  Karapetyan decided to reformat the All-Armenian Front movement into a  party. The ex-minister justified his decision by the growing interest  of the Armenian public in the movement he initiated, the readiness to  engage in active political struggle and the desire to come to power  through party struggle.