Armenia decides to replace military with border guards to protect borders

Armenian Defence Minister Suren Papikyan has said that the Armenian authorities set a long-term goal of rotating and replacing military personnel with border guards to protect the borders.

Papikyan made these remarks in the parliament while discussing the implementation of the governmental programme for the last year, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Armenian media.

At present, the conditional border with Azerbaijan is almost completely guarded by the military personnel of the Armenian Defence Ministry.

During the meeting of the standing committee on defence and security, MP from Armenian ex-President Robert Kocharyan “Armenia” bloc Gegham Manukyan noted that the border troops of the National Security Service were protecting one section in 2021, but since then their scope of responsibility has not changed, although the matter rests in a gradual rotation and complete replacement.

In response, Papikyan stated that the solution to the issue depends on the geopolitical situation. It is necessary to fully rotate and replace the military with border guards, as in a normal situation, border guards should protect the border.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the authorities set a strategic goal in July 2022. All Armenian borders should be transferred under the control of the border troops, while the army units should return to their places of permanent deployment.