Our interlocutor is Vahram Poghosyan, Head of Information and Public Relations Department of the Artsakh Republic State Minister’s Office.
– Mr. Poghosyan, a few days ago, at a press conference, the Defense Minister of the Republic of Artsakh Levon Mnatsakanyan stated that the frontline is being completely controlled both during day and nighttime. Prior to that, some scandalous disclosures were made about the aid received during the April war. Will you tell us, please, what was the role of those aids in the upgrading of the frontline?
– It has been more than two years since the April war, which accelerated the upgrading works in the frontline. In particular, thanks to the financial and logistical support provided by charity funds, state budget funds and a number of philanthropists during the war, the technical component of the frontline protection has been significantly improved over the past two years. Monitoring and control systems have been installed in all directions, which have essentially simplified the process of collecting operative and strategic data. As a result, the Armenian side is able to observe the movements and changes in the territory of Azerbaijan much earlier and more comprehensively, allowing us to adjust our actions to their plans. Since the issue of distribution of the aid collected during and after the April war has been speculated on different occasions recently, let me remind that at that time, the government periodically issued open reports on receiving and distributing various types of assistance. In particular, we have reported the lists of the names of the individuals of all financial transfers, and the directions of the distribution of the resources. In short, all types of assistance provided to the government have been effectively distributed and the government has nothing to do with the revealed scandalous cases. Detailed reports are available on the government website. As for the upgrading of the frontline, some of the works have been done with the money collected in the special account.
– Tell us, please, the type and the volume of the support the government has received at that time.
– A donation of around 5.5 billion drams was transferred to the special account, and among thousands of donors, a number of individuals and organizations have made large donations. For example, Gazprom Armenia has donated more than 600 million drams, Ruben Vardanyan and IDeA Foundation about 1.1 million dollars, the Holy See over 1 million dollars, etc. Technical contributions were also significant especially by Armenian communities of different cities of Russia, mainly in the form of cars, as well as the donation of a number of important equipment and innovative technologies by businessman Gurgen Khachatryan. There were many other supporters too who provided both with financial, logistical support, food and other means, but in smaller volumes. Some of them directly dealt with the Defense Army without additional government links, which means that their donations were not counted and published by us.
– Does the army still receive such assistance? If yes, then what type of assistance is that?
– Let me note that in addition to state-funded programs, some philanthropists continue to support the technological upgrading of the frontline, which we cannot openly report because of confidentiality issues. In any case, one thing is certain that thanks to the efforts of some state programs, the help of patriotic Armenians and many dedicated soldiers, today we have a new much more protected frontline, thanks to which both the borders of our entire homeland and the life of each soldier have become safer. It is an ongoing process, and we should always keep the focus on the frontline, constantly working to improve its defense capabilities. We thank everyone for their donations, it was an important contribution to raising the level of security of all Armenians.