I am one of the people who have always been in favor of raising wages; when corruption is being eliminated, wages should rise. Political technologist Karen Kocharyan stated this during a press conference today, referring to the secret increase of salaries of ministers and deputy ministers of Armenia.

“The person who works in the state system must live with dignity. If a man is to serve the state, he should not think his child is hungry, has a textbook, or does not have one. And why this is being done secretly, I can't understand,” he said.

Referring to the fact that government officials used to travel by bicycle or subway, the political technologist said that for such a short period of time such PR measures work. "Now that the euphoria wave has almost subsided, one-time things don't work anymore, that's why things like this aren't done now."

For his part, Reserve Colonel Volodya Hovhannisyan noted that with that move by PM Nikol Pashinyan, the salaries of the subjects representing the "My Step" alliance or the Civil Contract party were mainly raised. “Against the backdrop of teachers' salaries, civil servants' salaries, legal system employees' salaries have not been raised, the rise in wages of Nikol Pashinyan's close circles is a utmost expression of political immorality,” he said, adding that when Pashinyan said this has been done to reduce corruption risks, the question arises whether there are no such risks in other areas as well.

Military expert Gevorg Grigoryan also mentioned that if salaries go up, it is important to do so evenly.