Russian ORSIS will challenge the statement made on the Public Television of Armenia on the supply of hunting sights for the country's Ministry of Defense instead of combat sights at inflated prices, TASS reported.

The Public Television coverage, aired on February 10, reported that the Special Investigation Service was investigating a case according to which hunting sights were sold to the Armenian Defense Ministry instead of combat ones. On Wednesday, February 12, the General Staff of the Armed Forces denied this information.

“The company did not offer products that are speculated by a number of Armenian media, including some TV channels. The company cannot disclose product information due to the signed confidentiality agreements and respect for state secrets of Armenia. Issues with similar speculations on the part of a number of Armenian media will be resolved in a court of law with the involvement of all possible resources for an anti-corruption investigation of the activities of such media,” the company noted.

ORSIS called the channel’s data to be the baseless speculation.

The company has repeatedly conducted successful testing of the products that it offered, the company said adding that the purpose of the products is determined by tests conducted by professionals, and not by anonymous speculation attempts and links to the opinions of experts whose knowledge raises questions, ORSIS added.

They believe such actions are attempts to pressure the investigation and shift emphasis on established criminal cases.

“This has nothing to do with the fact of unlawful actions by defense ministry officials to disrupt the tender and large-scale appropriation by a high-ranking official of the Armenian defense ministry ORSIS noted. The company was also interested in the sources of appearance in the Armenian media of the data they cited.

About the investigation

The lawyer of ORSIS told TASS that a criminal case was opened in the country's Investigative Committee due to the exclusion from a closed tender for the purchase of large quantities of weapons from the Armenian Defense Ministry.

At the end of October, the media reported that Russia sent a letter to Armenia because of the failure of the arms tender. Press Secretary of the Armenian defense minister Artsrun Hovhannisyan denied receiving any document from the Russian side regarding ORSIS, adding that while the legal process is ongoing, the department refrains from official assessments of the situation.

In November, the company said that  Promtechnologies group received unofficial invitations from the Armenian defense ministry to resolve issues regarding the failed contract for the supply of a batch of weapons for this department. There were also attempts to informally contact the company from some allegedly close to the Armenian defense ministry.

Hovhannisyan said that the defense ministry did not try to unofficially resolve the problems related to the disruption of the tender for the supply of weapons with the Russian company.