Major General’s Lie about the Joint Group of Forces

Recently, military and political figure, Major General Levon Stepanyan made interesting statements in his interview to the Russian “Sputnik” agency, which are not true.

“The creation of an Armenian-Russian joint group of forces is an objective decision. It does not limit Armenia’s sovereignty in any way as some populist and demagogue politicians are trying to present it”, Stepanyan stated.

According to the General, one of the goals of creation of the group of forces is counterbalancing accumulation of a large number of Azerbaijani troops in Nakhichevan. “The joint group of forces includes our Army Corps deployed on Nakhichevan border. It underlines the possible direction of use”, Stepanyan noted.

Note that the Armenian-Russian joint group of forces has incorporated the Fifth Army Corps of the RA Armed Forces, which is mainly responsible for the border with Turkey, namely, the sections of Yerevan, Armavir and Shirak Marzes. Moreover, these troops control the borders with Turkey and Georgia. It means that this group of forces will have nothing to do with the resolution of issues with our main military enemy Azerbaijan.

Actually the Fourth Army Corps is located on the border with Nakhichevan, and it is not included in the joint group of forces. And thus, though General Stepanyan claims that the group of forces will control the border with Nakhichevan, it is not true.

And finally, according to the agreement, during military actions, the group of forces will obey the Commander of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, rather than the RA Chief of General Staff.

Thus, it is difficult to understand how such a high-ranking military figure can mix up the Fourth and Fifth Army Corps. Hence, General Stepanyan either has not read the agreement and such analyses is unintentional, or he is trying to promote the idea of “Russians will save us” by intentional distortion of facts.