During a press conference today, the third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan did not agree with the journalist's observation that he is showing political activity.
"What activity have I shown that you have noticed?. I do not consider today's press conference a political activity, because although the April four-day war is very closely connected with politics, we are talking today about the actual hostilities, their causes and consequences", said Serzh Sargsyan.
He suggested journalists not to speak about the parliamentary commission of inquiry into April war and the events that took place there.
"I promised the commission that if they at least provide me with my answers to all their questions, I will not publish any opinion or question voiced in the commission. I think it would be right for me to keep my word", Sargsyan said.
He emphasized that after presenting the report of the commission to the National Assembly, there will be an opportunity to meet with journalists again.
Speaking about the actual hostilities in April, Sargsyan said:
"All the statements that we allegedly knew the exact information about the attack were simply made by people who did not have full access to the information on previous period, including the information provided by intelligence. Or if they even had, they do not have a good idea of what the intelligence informastion means.
No, we did not know in advance that a large-scale operation was being prepared by Azerbaijan. Yes, our intelligence has failed in this matter. We already had preliminary information on the 1st of the month, in the second half of the day, that a subversive operation was being prepared by the Azerbaijanis. And relevant work has been done in the supposed areas".
Speaking about the issues related to the armament of the Armenian army during the April war, Sargsyan, in particular, mentioned:
"Not only during the April war, but now, and not only us, but all the armed forces always need the best, modern weapons. In April 2016, for the first time, we used as much ammunition as the commanders deemed necessary. We did not have a shortage of ammunition",
At that time, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan spoke about low-quality fuel. According to Sargsyan, back in 2008, during the Russian-Georgian war, large quantities of diesel fuel, gasoline and bread were imported to Armenia from neighboring Iran.
"They were state reserves not only before the April war, but also until the day of my resignation. In addition, the Ministry of Defense has always accumulated and on the eve of April war had sufficient inviolable reserves.
"As for Karen Karapetyan's statement, he was also summoned to the parliamentary commission and answered the questions", said Serzh Sargsyan, emphasizing that they did not have all the best weapons, but they did what they could, and they did the task with what they had.
However, Serzh Sargsyan added. "I talked to Karen Karapetyan, he confessed that it was a mistake, a misunderstanding".
