Media: Pashinyan dissatisfied with the work of Armenia's defense minister

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is dissatisfied with the work of Defense Minister Suren Papikyan; a tough conversation recently took place between them, the newspaper "Hraparak" writes.

It is noted that Pashinyan is dissatisfied with the growing number of deaths in the army under peacetime conditions and with the criticism voiced against Armenia's Armed Forces.

Moreover, in the corridors of power it was said that Papikyan would face the fate of former parliament speaker Alen Simonyan. However, lacking a suitable candidate from among "his own," the prime minister decided not to take risks and reappointed the head of the Defense Ministry, the publication claims.

"The prime minister told Papikyan that there is no war, and that he should deal exclusively with issues of the moral and psychological condition of the troops. There is no need to solve combat tasks, yet issues of internal discipline in the army are being ignored, and the situation at the posts is disappointing," the newspaper writes.

The publication claims that the Defense Ministry falsifies and conceals statistics on deaths in the Armed Forces. Most accidents are not reported, and only those incidents uncovered by the press are made public. The ministry justifies itself by saying that some of these cases are not related to army service.

As a reminder, on July 21 Armenia's Investigative Committee reported the death of Narek Toroyan, a conscript serviceman of Armenia's Armed Forces, noting that a criminal case had been opened under the article "incitement to suicide." Toroyan's death became the eighth case of the death of an Armenian Armed Forces serviceman in non-combat conditions during the first seven months of 2026. According to media reports, he committed suicide after being beaten by fellow servicemen.

Source: Sputnik Armenia