A few days ago, there was a personnel appointment in the Armenian army. Thus, based on the proposal of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Vahagn Khachaturyan signed a decree on the appointment of Samvel Grigoryan as the commander of the 3rd army corps of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Modern.az discovered an interesting, and at the same time unpleasant, fact during a small investigation. Samvel Grigoryan, who was appointed corps commander, actively participated in the battles against our Army during the April battles, the Patriotic War, and the anti-terrorist operation carried out in September 2023.
Colonel Samvel Grigoryan, who was born in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, held various high positions in the military structures of the separatist regime operating in Karabakh for many years. He served in positions from military unit commander to deputy division commander. After the 2020 war, he became the chief of staff of the so-called “Artsakh Defense Army”.
Grigoryan participated in direct military operations against the Azerbaijani Army in the 2020 battles and received the “2nd degree “Battle Cross” order on October 28, 2020.
In the information released by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan in October 2020, it was also stated that Grigoryan was seriously wounded during those battles. According to the Ministry, as a result of the strike of the Azerbaijani Army, the headquarters building of the Armenian armed forces was destroyed, and Colonel Samvel Grigoryan, chief of staff of the 10th mountain-rifle division, who was in the building at that time, was seriously wounded. Now, that person is being brought to one of the higher positions in the Armenian army.
The political side of Grigoryan's appointment also does not go unnoticed. Because the decision was made at a time when the peace agenda came to the forefront in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. On the one hand, Yerevan declares that it continues the peace process with Baku, on the other hand, it brings an officer who fought against Azerbaijan in the past and held high positions in separatist military structures in Karabakh to lead one of the army corps.
This appointment shows that there is a serious personnel problem in the Armenian Army, and on the other hand, it creates a negative tone in the normalization process with Azerbaijan.
