In the investigative commission of the 44-day war, former Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan was asked by commission member Vahagn Aleksanyan: “Did you meet with Russian Minister of Defense Shoigu a few days before the war? The Chief of the General Staff met with the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Gerasimov. As a result of those meetings, the possibility of war was naturally discussed as well.” Our ally has assessed that war is unlikely or almost impossible; is that true?
Tonoyan answered. “If you have my reports on my meetings, you can have them; I will limit myself to that part. In a closed session, you will ask a question, and I will answer. Still, for all of us, in the period before the war, my experience of cooperation with NATO suggested that the deployment of 16 units there was not for training. Almost four planes were constantly in the air every day for 6 hours or 5 hours, and such approaches forced the Anti-Aircraft Defense to join, which added to our concerns. When the F16s were rotated, can you imagine what that meant? The planes were also rotated; it meant almost a permanent presence or a sign of renewed hostilities. Since that period, the Russian minister and I have had three meetings. You can read the reports.
Yes, there were specific appeals to us not to provoke and to show composure, which was carried out by us as much as possible. In any case, the shooting down of the F16 by us was possible but did not happen because it was decided not to provoke the situation on their part. I initiated two sets of speed meetings. Please take from the Ministry of Defense the report of the meeting between the US Department of Defense deputy and me in 2019; a lot will become apparent to you.”
He said that he had 3-4 meetings a day with the ambassadors of the CSTO and NATO member states; they were all given diagrams of the movement of Turkey’s F16 and asked to neutralize that country’s involvement in the Artsakh war scene.
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Tonoyan denied the rumors that one of the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group presented him with proposals, which he refused.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
