Interviews and press conferences
Interview of the Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan on “Liberty” (Azatutyun) Radio Station
17 / 02 / 2021
In an interview with “Liberty” (Azatutyun) radio station, the Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan spoke about the legacy left by the former authorities in the Artsakh peace process, as well as about Armenian prisoners of war, the security system of Armenia in the new realities, the Armenian-Russian cooperation, and other security issues.
Speaking about the Armenian prisoners of war, Armen Grigoryan mentioned: “The issue of prisoners of war is the most delicate issue, which has become somewhat domestic political and has caused some complications. The government works in this direction every day, without losing a single second. Of course, most of these works are not visible, but I can say that a lot of effort is made to solve this problem. Obstacles have simply been created, taking into account also the internal political situation. I hope we will be able to resolve this issue as soon as possible”. The Secretary added that all relevant agencies are working daily. “We understand all the parents and relatives and the situation they are in and we try to resolve this issue as soon as possible”.
Attaching importance to the issues of army reforms and security strategy, Armen Grigoryan mentioned: “The current situation has led us to the fact that the security architecture of Armenia must be, so to speak, “updated” and it must have three pillars.
The first is the Armenian army. The Armenian army must be reformed. It can be said, that it was an ongoing process, but since 2018, we have tried to reform the army intensively. By the way, there was no surgical intervention, but only an increase in resources and the army budget. For example, in 2018 the army budget was 468 million US dollars, and already in 2020 it reached 625 million, that is, we increased the military budget by 33-34 %. Starting from the food, we have made several reforms to increase our capabilities in the arm, and the experience has shown that there is a need to do more.
The second is Armenia’s strategic and allied relations with Russia, which is important for Armenia’s security.
The third is the unblocking of the region and economic activity. “We are convinced that the unblocking and the economic activity in the region will bring about security guarantees. These three pillars complement each other”.
Touching upon the heavy legacy left by the previous authorities, Armen Grigoryan added. “The April war stopped because of the promises of the Armenian side. By the way, after those promises, which presuppose a certain schedule, and that schedule was to a certain extent during the summer, and during the summer, the incident with “Sasna Tsrer” took place. Serzh Sargsyan used the incident to postpone it to some extent until April 2017, then – until the government transition. However, that person, giving that many promises, creating such a burden for the Republic of Armenia, leaves the post, then comes and announces: “I was ready to sign; I was ready for some steps”. While, I state clearly that because of the promises he made and the deadlocks he created we faced serious problems”.
The Secretary added that the statement of the third President of the Republic of Armenia that the return of Lachin and Karvachar regions to Azerbaijan was connected with the issue of Artsakh’s status is not true and the return of these regions also had a certain schedule without a final solution to the referendum issue.