On April 27, former Minister of Defense of Artsakh, currently Chief of Police of the Republic of Artsakh, Levon Mnatsakanyan, answered the questions of the members of the National Assembly’s investigative committee studying the circumstances of the April War. After the session, he addressed the question of how much territory the Armenian side had ultimately lost during the April War. “By our calculation, up to 400 hectares,” said Mnatsakanyan, without answering the journalist’s question as to why, days after the April War, Serzh Sargsyan announced the loss of 800 hectares of territory.
He noted that he had been candid with the committee members, had given direct answers, and had presented the reality.
To the question of what omissions occurred during the April War and whether they could have had a significant impact on the course of the war, he answered: of course not.
“Unquestionably, the Defense Army fulfilled the task set before it and was victorious. And as for the shortcomings that exist, there is always room for improvement anywhere, and the Defense Army is working in that direction. On my part as well, there was an omission,” he added. Levon Mnatsakanyan said he does not yet wish to answer the question of whether there were deficiencies in intelligence during the April War or not.
“There are questions that still need to be clarified. The committee decides whether there is a need to present them, and it presents them. We have done our job; what fatal issue is being spoken of?” he noted. Addressing the question of casualties, Mnatsakanyan said: “There were no more than 100 casualties; from April 2 to 5 there were 75 casualties, of whom 35 were conscripts.”
