Armenian PM Pashinyan on wife's presence at command post, who's to blame for war failures

During a video address, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan answered several questions that have popped up in recent days in the aftermath of the second Karabakh war, in particular pertaining to the presence of his wife Anna Hakobyan at defence meetings.

Earlier, Colonel-General Movses Hakobyan gave a press conference on the results of the war in Karabakh and spoke about the presence of the PM’s wife, Anna Hakobyan, at the command post. Movses Hakobyan says he asked the PM’s wife to leave. In his opinion, it was precisely because of this incident that he himself was forbidden after that to appear at the command post.

• More than 11,000 people return to homes in Nagorno-Karabakh
• Video – Armenians say goodbye to shrines, territories to be transferred to Azerbaijan

Pashinyan’s response

PM Pashinyan confirmed that his wife Anna Hakobyan was indeed at the command post.

“My wife visited the generals in Stepanakert on my instructions. The visit of a family member of the Prime Minister of Armenia was supposed to support and raise the morale of the military, who all the time heard reports about the flight of civilians from the cities.”

During his address, Pashinyan accused Hakobyan of the failure of hostilities in the southern direction of the contact line.

“The general, due to whose illegal actions the enemy broke through in the southern sector of the front, is giving a press conference, forgetting that several years ago he was a defendant in a criminal case initiated due to the embezzlement of 42 million from the budget of the Ministry of Defense.”