The draft law on making an amendment to the Law On State Borders submitted by the government was discussed on Tuesday in the RA National Assembly Standing Committee on Defense and Security. It was presented by the Deputy Minister of Defense Arman Sargsyan.
“The anti-aircraft defense forces have the right, in case the security of the Republic of Armenia is threatened or any hostile action is carried out against the Republic of Armenia, to accompany and force the aircraft or other aerial vehicle to land at the airports of the Republic of Armenia or other relevant territory. And if the aircraft or other vehicle continues to operate, the anti-aircraft defense units will destroy the aircraft or other vehicle,” the minister explained the government’s suggestion, adding that in order to maintain the regulation of that law, it is necessary to clarify how that action will be carried out.
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There is no such regulation in the Law on State Borders. “In such situations, which state governing bodies should work together? For example, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Defense should cooperate with each other, who should give the order, how long should the given actions be carried out, etc.” The amendment to the law is aimed at clarifying the procedure.
Adjacent speaker and MP representing the ruling faction, Armen Khachatryan, explained that there has been a legal gap in the law adopted in 2001 for 20 years already. “This was just a legal omission, and it was not defined that the government has the authority to establish a procedure for the use of anti-aircraft defense measures. We need to change the law and authorize the government to determine what weapons will be used, how, and in what order.”
The deputies of the opposition faction, taking advantage of the opportunity that the deputy minister was in the parliament, raised questions about the border situation. Member of the Armenia faction Gegham Manukyan stated that the opposition mainly has no questions related to the submitted bill, but, taking into account that the Deputy Defense Minister did not give clear answers to their questions regarding the current state of the Armenian borders, they will not vote for the bill. Only deputies from the ruling party voted in favor of the bill. It will be submitted to the NA plenary sitting for discussion in the near future.
Nelly Grigoryan
