Serzh Sargsyan dispels myths about insufficient equipment of Armenian  army

ArmInfo.Third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, during whom days in power the "four-day" April war took place, is trying to dispel myths about the  insufficient equipment of the Armenian army in those days.

So, Sargsyan in Channel 5 Director Harutyun Harutyunyan's "Victory  April" documentary recalled that on April 6, during a press  conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he was asked a  question about weapons.

"I then said that our soldiers fought weapons of the 1980s. It became  a subject for speculation, but these people were not at all  interested in why I said that. The goal was quite clear. I turned to  the international community and said: although you and they turned a  blind eye to the fact that Azerbaijan is arming itself to the teeth,  spending billions on it, however, the endurance and professional  abilities of our soldiers prevail over the enemy, and ours have  fulfilled their tasks, "the third president of Armenia said.

At the same time, he stated that people who speculate on this issue  simply do not know that the wording "weapons of the 1980s" does not  mean old weapons at all. According to Sargsyan, any military expert  will confirm his words.

"And of course, in this case we would have completely failed the  negotiation process. However, as we saw, our Armed Forces completed  the main task," he said, while expressing regret that many media and  organizations receiving various grants, they began to present these  military operations as a defeat, meanwhile, as it was far from  reality.

"I was very hurt because it really wasn't. As for the message about  the loss of 800 hectares of territories, I would like to note that I  was the first to say this on the way from Vienna.

I got to tell you, that I do not regret it. Yes, I've told you more  than I should.. Why did I do this? If you remember, during the days  of the war, many of the so-called ours used information from  Azerbaijani sources and said that Azerbaijan had captured Talysh.  Like they are already in Mataghs and so on, and after the fighting,  different numbers sounded - 5,000 ha, 50 sq / km. Some even laid out  some videos, did some calculations, and after that they even went,  tried to make some measurements, and then they saw that the figure I  said was much more than reality. If we talk about every centimeter,  then the losses of the Armenian side did not amount to 400 hectares,  " Sargsyan concluded.

It should be noted that in 2016, after the April war, then President  of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan in an interview with Armenian television  channels said that after the four-day war, the Armenian side lost 800  hectares of land. "If measured by meters, the security zone of the  Armenian forces is 800 thousand hectares, but we lost 800 hectares  that have no tactical and strategic significance, this is 1/1000," he  stressed. At the same time, Sargsyan noted that the Armenian armed  forces were able to restore their previous positions, but preference  was given to saving lives.

At the same time,  then NKR Minister of Defense Levon Mnatsakanyan  declared that in the short time that was before the armistice was  reached, the Defense Army noticeably restored its lost positions. "If  the hostilities continued, we would have greater opportunities.  Nevertheless, I do not consider these minor losses to be  irretrievable and I am sure that we will still have the opportunity  to restore our lost positions," he said then.

Then the President of Armenia was sharply criticized for the  insufficient equipment of the Armed Forces. It was after the April  war that the Armenian authorities began in a hurry to take arms loans  from Russia. For a fairly short period of time, three arms contracts  were signed, with a total amount of about $ 400 million, and the  rearmament of the army began.

It should be noted that current Prime Minister of the Republic of  Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has also repeatedly criticized Sargsyan. A  month earlier, he said that during the ruling time of Sargsyan, arms  worth $ 42 million were purchased, which is not suitable for anything  - it's just scrap metal. And the created parliamentary commission on  the April events should give answers to all questions of interest to  society, including who and to what extent are guilty for not  fulfilling their powers in a timely manner, and the culprits should  be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

To recall, on the night of April 2, 2016, the armed forces of  Azerbaijan carried out large-scale military aggression against  Artsakh. The war was accompanied by war crimes, gross violations of  the laws and customs of war, as well as international humanitarian  law.

April military operations became the largest after the ceasefire  agreement of May 1994. During the fighting from April 2 to 5, all  Armenian military units, including artillerymen, tankers and  anti-tank units, showed excellent performance.

During intense fighting, the Artsakh Defense Forces destroyed 2  Azerbaijani helicopters attacking the positions of the Armenian side,  26 tanks, as well as 14 drones, 1 BM-21 (Grad) missile and artillery  installation, 4 BMP and 1 engineering installation.

During the fighting on the Contact Line, the Armenian side lost 64  troops, 13 volunteers, 4 civilians, more than 120 people were  injured, another 9 soldiers died after the cessation of active  hostilities, from April 13, several died later in hospitals.  Based  on the data of the State Department, presented on May 16 in Vienna in  the same year, it becomes clear that in addition to 81 losses from  the Armenian side, about 270 Azerbaijanis died. At the same time,  analysts at the Bellingcat international research group estimate the  losses of Baku at 400-500 killed soldiers.