Yerevan /Mediamax/. The defense team of the former Minister of Defense of Armenia Davit Tonoyan grouped the questions received from various media in recent weeks and presented the answers.

- In the current situation, how do you imagine the withdrawal of the adversary troops which invaded and positioned themselves in the territory of Armenia?

- A rather strange situation has been created as a result of the two-day military operations: the number of victims and wounded on both sides is quite large, the picture of positional changes is worrying.

Aliyev states that he has achieved his goal and ignores all international responses. Apparently, the Armed Forces of Armenia show “constraint”, which, I think, is the result of a political decision. If this “constraint” continues, it will have serious consequences on the moral and psychological condition of the armed forces and, therefore, on their combat capability.

Question arises: where is the “red line” which if crossed, the Armed Forces will not be constrained anymore? Does the political authority assess the actions of the armed forces as sufficient or does it think that the armed forces are not capable of acting properly in the mentioned situation and any daring action can cause a lot of losses?

No public answers were given to these questions. The danger to the borders of the Republic of Armenia will not be neutralized by, as people say, “slipping”, “breaking through” or “God willing”. The leadership of the armed forces must demand the supply of the necessary means from the political leadership, and the government must provide it immediately, at any cost. I repeat, at any cost: both literally and figuratively.

- Armenia has officially announced that it sees a threat of invasion from Nakhichevan. What can the military and diplomats do to neutralize or mitigate this threat?

- It is well known that the direction of Nakhichevan is problematic. At a time, enough measures were taken to neutralize the danger of military operations in that direction.

My approach is the following: the combat capability of the Armed Forces should be drastically increased in a short period of time, qualitative predominance should be ensured over the enemy in order to be able to carry out modern military operations along the entire border of the Republic of Armenia and ensure the commitment of the Republic of Armenia in terms of guaranteeing the physical security of the people of Artsakh and the right to self-determination.

- Before, during and after Nancy Pelosi’s visit, opinions were voiced that Armenia should try military and military-technical cooperation with the West. How realistic do you think such ideas are?

- The idea of developing such cooperation is not new and is completely realistic. From a practical point of view, I do not know whether the Western countries have removed the political restrictions on the supply of weapons to Armenia and Azerbaijan after November 2020. If those restrictions are lifted, loosened or “ignored” then do it. Our membership to the CSTO has never been a real obstacle to making military purchases from the West, it is an artificial myth. Only the aforementioned restrictions were applied.

I want also to note that the purchase of arms loves silence and not public speeches.

- The Armenian authorities publicly criticized the CSTO’s actual inaction. How do you assess it?

- Armenia’s membership to the CSTO – as a restraining factor for Azerbaijan – is again a myth, the collapse of which we are witnessing now. Armenia’s membership to the CSTO pursues other, multi-layered security goals, in which I do not see any changes.

Regardless of everything, the CSTO does not in any way impede the Armed Forces of Armenia to protect our borders.