Republic of Armenia Minister of Defence David Tonoyan’s speech at Moscow Conference on International Security
(Moscow, April 25)

It’s the first day of the winter conscription. After a celebration of the New Year’s holidays, the guys have reported to military commissariats where, after doublechecking all the necessary documents and passing another medical examination, they will be sent to the Central Gathering Station. Meanwhile, we are at the Shengavit Military Commissariat, and we are talking with some of the conscripts.

During the recent military actions the Azerbaijani side has accused us in the use of white phosphorus. This chemical agent is banned by international conventions. However, white phosphorus is not used in the open field. This is a chemical weapon, which is usually used in open fields, or to decommission the equipment, but the enemy “discovered” it in the open field. Probably they wanted to say – Armenia tried to use chemical weapons, but missed.

South-east direction. Morning of April 2. Narek Malkhasyan hits the enemy helicopter Mi-24G by antitank grenade. This episode has divided life, the service of soldiers, serving on the position, into “before” and “after”. It changed also the name of the reference point. Now it is known as “helicopter position”.

On May 23, Rafael Hovhannisyan turned 20. He was recently awarded the Order of “Battle Cross” of 2nd degree. During the four-day war he shot down 3 enemy tanks.

A soldier from the battlefield carried away his dead comrade. Is there a higher heroism in the war than this? It is the main duty of a soldier! Conscript, sergeant Tigran Hakhverdyan is awarded a medal “For Courage” for his feat.

Albert Ghazaryan in the finals of the OFS 8th championship had to fight with Azerbaijani Ruslan Muratazov. Albert entered the sports-hall with the flags of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Republic, accompanied by well-known athletes, in the uniform of the national army.