Pashinyan Canceled Military Preparations Before the War, Mikaelian Argues

In this critical segment, Hrant Mikaelian makes a pointed argument about internal failures preceding the 44-Day War of 2020. He contends that Serzh Sargsyan’s government had developed extensive military rearmament and preparation plans in 2017-2018, recognizing that war with Azerbaijan was likely inevitable given regional conditions. However, according to Mikaelian, Pashinyan’s administration canceled these preparations entirely upon taking power in 2018, leaving Armenia militarily unprepared when Azerbaijan and Turkey launched their assault in September 2020. Mikaelian combines this claim with a broader indictment of Pashinyan’s negotiation strategy, arguing that the government failed existing OSCE Minsk Group negotiating tracks where Armenia was already winning, only to shift toward direct bilateral negotiations with Azerbaijan that fell apart just days before the war began. The analysis suggests that Armenian military losses stemmed not merely from regional geopolitics or foreign intervention, but from specific policy failures and governance disorganization during the conflict itself. This narrative directly challenges official government claims that losses were inevitable given Turkey’s involvement or that Pashinyan government policies were unrelated to the outcome. The debate over accountability for the war remains central to Armenian domestic politics, with opposition figures and analysts like Mikaelian arguing that critical state decisions made pre-war and during the conflict itself merit public accounting.