YEREVAN. – I hope we will not bring the veterans of the Artsakh liberation war to the age of up to 70 before giving them some new bonuses, because no one [from them] will be left [alive]. Majority My Step faction member Sasun Mikaelyan stated this in the parliament Tuesday, referring to the issue of putting the bill on making amendments in the law on veterans of the Great Patriotic War on the agenda of the National Assembly of Armenia.

"They have created a big problem out of the bonus of 5,000 drams to the participants of the Artsakh liberation war, which the state gives in case of retirement," he said, in particular. "I would like our government to focus on that."

Mikaelyan noted that the veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) War also have big social problems. "There are issues that need to be worthily assessed," he added, in particular.

According to him, the adoption of the aforesaid bill is not a big tragedy. "If we put off for a while more, there will be no one left [alive from its beneficiaries] in May," the MP said. "I think it can be done."

But this bill was not put the agenda, as it received 39 votes in favor, 77 against and two abstentions.

To note, the draft proposed that, taking into account the upcoming 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the honorarium for the still-living Armenian veterans of this war be doubled to 200,000 drams. There are currently 276 such veterans in Armenia.