New Criminal Case Initiated in Armenia Regarding Arms Supply Tender from Russia

A new criminal case has been initiated in Armenia concerning the obstruction of a lawyer representing the interests of the Russian ORSIS defense industry company by the Armenian Ministry of Defense, as reported by РИА Новости, citing its own source.

According to the agency, the new case was opened by the Armenian Investigative Committee not related to the actual tender process, but regarding the giving of a valuable gift by a senior representative of the Ministry of Defense and the obstruction of the lawyer representing ORSIS's activities in Armenia.

Marina Ohanyan, spokesperson for the Armenian Special Investigative Service, confirmed the initiation of the new criminal case in a conversation with РИА Новости without providing further details.

As a reminder, in May 2019, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia announced a tender for the supply of weapons and ammunition worth several million dollars. The Russian company ORSIS submitted a bid; however, the tender was soon closed for unknown reasons to the company. Following that, the Russian company appealed to the appeals commission and engaged a lawyer representing their interests in Armenia, leading to the initiation of a criminal case under the Armenian Criminal Code article on 'careless treatment of official duties.'

It is worth noting that ORSIS is part of the 'Promtechnology' group and has been supplying weapons, ammunition, and military optical devices to Armenia for several years.