Armenia’s Special Investigative Service has launched a criminal case of “abuse of official authority” against Movses Hakobyan, a former Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces for his November 19 remarks criticizing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for mismanaging the recent war in Karabakh.

Hakobyan, at a November 19 Yerevan press conference, stated that the main reasons for Armenia's defeat in the war were inadequate leadership, ignorance, and lack of the mastery of the art of war.

Hakobyan accused Pashinyan of halting the army’s recruitment process in favor of sending volunteers to the front line.

Hakobyan, who resigned from the post of Head of the Military Control Service of the Armenian Ministry of Defense on November 18, said the volunteers were ill-equipped and encountered bureaucratic red tape upon arrival in Artsakh.

Pashinyan’s government has described Hakobyan’s allegations as “falsehoods” and accused him of revealing “state secrets”.

Hakobyan, at the press conference, also talked about Armenia’s recent weaponry purchases and rebuked the government for purchasing the wrong type of military hardware.

(Movses Hakobyan served as Artsakh Minister of Defense from May 2007 – June 2015 and Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces from October 2016 - May 2018. Yesterday, he resigned from the post of Head of the Military Control Service of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, which he headed since November 19, 2019.)