In an interview aired on Armenian Public Television, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan declared that the document that the Ministers of Defense of the Russian Federation and Armenia signed in December 2020 didn’t concern the decisions on the pullout of the troops of Armenia a few kilometers back in Syunik Province.
During a press conference held in parliament on Dec. 20, deputies of the opposition “Armenia” Faction of the National Assembly Gegham Manukyan and Anna Grigoryan informed that they had received contradicting responses to their inquiries addressed to various government agencies in regard to the command to pull out Armenian troops and the fact about the command. Whereas in response to Manukyan’s inquiry addressed to already former Minister of Defense Arshak Karapetyan the minister had informed that the issue is not within the domain of competence of the Ministry of Defense, in response to a similar inquiry addressed to Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan, the latter said the pullout of troops had taken place in December 2020. MP Manukyan stated that he couldn’t fully disclose the document due to the prescribed confidentiality regime. Later, in response to another similar inquiry, current Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan had informed the MP that there is a document signed between the Ministries of Defense of Armenia and the Russian Federation, but, due to the confidentiality regime, he can’t disclose it.
Touching upon the opposition MPs’ statements and the presented factual data, Grigoryan claims that there is nothing new and that the authorities haven’t concealed anything.
“We have publicly talked about almost all the processes that have taken place after November 9. The Prime Minister said why it was decided to pull out the troops. The document is about something totally different. I’m surprised that the opposition revealed this a year later. The document stated that Armenia will continue to use that road until it has an alternative road. Construction of the alternative road ended in Armenia in November, and Azerbaijan declared that it will set up customs points on the Goris-Kapan motorway. We have talked about this, and I am surprised that the opposition is revealing the well-known facts,” Grigoryan added.
