Authorities release redacted de-classified audio of army chief's security council wartime briefing

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. The Security Council Office has released the redacted, de-classified parts of the audio recording of Chief of General StaffColonel General Onik Gasparyan’s briefing at the 2020 September 30 Security Council meeting.

General Gasparyan was dismissed as Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces on March 10, 2021.

He claimed that during the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war he had warned at the September 30 Security Council meeting that the situation was very difficult and the war needed to be stopped in “2 or 3 days”. This claim was denied by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Pashinyan cited official records of the meeting and said that Gasparyan had instead said that there was no enemy advancement.

Afterwards, Gasparyan maintained his previous statements and claimed that his redacted speech would be presented out of context by the authorities if the de-classified recording is released.

Before releasing the audio, the Security Councilreleased the redacted transcripts.

In the redacted audio, Gasparyan is heard saying: “Mr. Prime Minister, basically, the situation is tactically unchanged,meaning the adversary didn’t have any advancements…”,

“…in any case the troops are fulfilling their mission, in the morning we initiated a small counterattack in the Jebrayil direction, and we had successes…..”

Concluding his speech, he added: “This is the situation, we continue carrying out our mission and we will continue until the end.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan