RUSSIALINK: “Armenian Armed Forces demand PM Pashinyan’s resignation – General Staff” – Interfax

YEREVAN. Feb 25 (Interfax) – The Armenian Armed Forces demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the national government, the Armed Forces’ General Staff said in a statement.

“The General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces strongly protests against the relief of General Staff First Deputy Chief Tiran Khachatryan of duties for short-sighted and unfounded reasons, which was done without due account of the national and state interests of Armenia, exclusively on the basis of personal sentiment and ambitions. The decision made in the circumstances difficult to Armenia is anti-state and irresponsible,” the statement said.

The Armenian prime minister and the government “are no longer capable of making adequate decisions in the crisis situation pivotal to the Armenian people,” it said.

“The Armenian Armed Forces have long been tolerating ‘attacks’ of the authorities aimed to discredit the Armed Forces, but everything has its limits. Given the circumstances, the Armenian Armed Forces demand the resignation of the prime minister and the government and warn them against using force against the people whose sons died defending the fatherland,” the statement said.

“The ineffective management practices of the incumbent government and foreign policy blunders have put the country on the brink of catastrophe,” the General Staff said.

The statement was signed by General Staff Chief Col. Gen. Onik Gasparyan, his deputies, army corps commanders, and high-ranking military officials.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian signed an executive order on Wednesday to relieve Tiran Khachatryan of duties as the first deputy chief of the Armenian Armed Forces General Staff.

According to the presidential press service, the order was signed on the proposal of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

On Wednesday, the Yerevan.Today media outlet asked Khachatryan to comment on Pashinyan’s earlier remarks that “missiles [fired] by an Iskander [system] did not explode, or did so only by 10%.” According to the media outlet’s report, Khachatryan started to laugh in response and said that nothing of this sort could have happened. “It is not serious, it is impossible,” he said.

Speaking with the 1in.am news website, when asked to comment on former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s remarks that the Armenian side could have used an Iskander system on the fourth day of the war, Pashinyan said, “I think he [Serzh Sargsyan] should have answers to a large number of questions rather than ask questions the answers to which he knows. And, maybe, he will answer why the missiles fired by the Iskander did not explode, or did so only by 10%.”