Meeting with Pashinyan Disappoints Father of Missing Soldier

The relatives of the soldiers who went missing during the 44-day war met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today, but were unable to obtain information about the fate of their children.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote that 217 people were officially recognized as missing in action during the 44-day war in Armenia by October 2022. The parents of the soldiers whose fate remained unclear after the war periodicallyhold protests near the Armenian Defense Ministry and government. According to the Red Cross, about 300 people are listed as missing in action during the 2020-2023 hostilities. In addition, several dozen families did not agree with the results of the examination, which recognized their relatives as dead - they insist that their loved ones should be included in the list of missing persons. The relatives of the fighters spoke out against the dismissal of the head of the National Security Service of Armenia Armen Abazyan, who carried out a lot of work to search for the fighters.

The relatives of the missing met with the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today, August 23. One of the parents, Liparit Tovmasyan, said that the meeting lasted 1.5 hours, but he left before it was over because he was not satisfied with Pashinyan's answer.

"I asked where our missing children were, Pashinyan replied that it was unknown, we were dealing with this issue. After signing the peace agreement, he did not provide us with any information about where our children were and when they would return, he said that we did not know, and that was it," News.Am quotes him as saying.

Tovmasyan said that the authorities were demanding documents that the parents could not provide. According to him, he was also personally dissatisfied with the work of the investigative bodies. According to Liparit Tovmasyan, after today's meeting he no longer has any expectations from this government.

"Nikol Pashinyan doesn't say anything specific. <...> At least Abazyan worked normally with us, but he was fired. And we haven't even met with the new director of the National Security Service, we don't know what he does," his words are quoted in the publication.

* the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.