Former Deputy Defense Minister: Every state must have a combat-ready  army for self- defense

ArmInfo. Any state in the world, for the purposes of defense, must first and foremost have a combat-ready army - a point that the "supreme commander-in-chief," who has suffered defeat, surrendered territories, and closed the door on Artsakh, should understand.

This is how former Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, Republican Artak Zakaryan, responded to the Armenian Prime Minister's statement in the National Assembly that the country must first and foremost have an army capable of defense, rather than a combat-ready army.

As Zakaryan noted, the armed forces of a defending state must be  capable of carrying out combat missions, which, he believes, is a  decisive element of troop readiness and the most important condition  for achieving victory. "Furthermore, combat readiness is also  necessary to protect the country's territorial integrity, security,  dignity, and sovereignty of the Armenian people. This principle was a  key focus of the government under third Armenian President Serzh  Sargsyan. And the victories imagined by the Pashinyan government are,  in reality, losses and defeats for the Armenian people," the former  deputy minister believes.

Regarding the term itself, Zakaryan clarified that defense readiness  also implies a country's level of preparedness for external  aggression. This,  as the former deputy minister of defense noted, is  determined by the combat Any state must have a combat-ready army for  its own defense readiness of the army, as well as the logistical,  economic, human resources, and the moral and psychological state of  society, which a given country is capable of mobilizing to achieve  its goals. "Additionally, a state's defense capability also depends  on its foreign and domestic policies, territorial features, the state  of civil defense, the structure of the economy, relations with allied  states, the level of technological and cyber readiness, information  security, and many other factors," Zakaryan added.

 However, he noted that in the current situation, namely due to the  destructive policies of Nikol Pashinyan and the ruling Civil Contract  party, the combat missions facing the Republic's Armed Forces have  become increasingly complex. "As a result of the policies pursued by  the Prime Minister of Armenia, it has become necessary to address  issues of increasing the combat readiness of the country's armed  forces, developing their capabilities and skills, organizing  preventive and effective defense with military-technical equipment in  a narrow geographic area, and enhancing their combat readiness for  anti-terrorist operations," Zakaryan explained.

The former deputy minister expressed confidence that all these issues  will be resolved after a change of power in Armenia. In conclusion,  he recalled that during the snap elections on June 20, 2021, in  exchange for votes, under the false slogan "We Stopped the War," the  ruling party "sold" the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, to  the Armenian people. "At the June 7, 2026 elections, again in  exchange for votes, under the bluff of 'We Brought Peace,' they will  try to 'sell' the August 8 Washington agreement. The details of its  implementation, no matter how unclear, could be dangerous in terms of  regional development and the security situation in our country,"  Zakarian concluded.