Defense Minister Cannot Be Connected to This Incident: Simonian on Fire in Barrack

National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonian addressed the fire that broke out in a barrack in Azat village during a conversation with reporters.

“The Defense Minister cannot be connected to this incident at all, because he has fully performed his duties. I consider the political bargaining regarding the Defense Minister to be baseless and unnecessary. What is important is that after the war, Mr. Papikyan took responsibility for managing the army and initiating reforms,” Simonian stated.

Simonian explained that Papikyan is implementing reforms starting with changes in personnel and extending to the equipment, which has been changed and is being changed in all areas, and now they are also importing various quality and high-level equipment from abroad.

In response to a journalist's observation that if it is about modular barracks, it would have been possible to equip them after September without extravagant spending, for example, for the prime minister's office elevator, for service vehicles, or for MPs' salaries and bonuses, Simonian emphasized, “The Republic of Armenia has no problem spending money on the army, and there has not been and will not be a case since 2018 where we didn't make a purchase due to lack of funds. It is not the case that there is money and a selection is made between spending it on an elevator or a car versus the army, and a decision is made not to spend it on the army.”