Armenian PM's wife: 11,000 servicemen deserted during 44-day war

Anna Hakobyan, the wife of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has said that 11,000 Armenian servicemen deserted during the Second Karabakh War in 2020.

"We like to say very lofty words to hide the reality, but the reality is that we had 11,000 deserters during the 44-day war," she stressed, Report informs citing Armenian media.

According to her, Armenia lost 4,000 soldiers in the war.

"When the supreme commander-in-chief called for volunteers to stand up for the homeland, they did not respond to his call. I, as a woman, decided to form a group and did it so that men could see women forming armed groups and going to do their duty. But the men reacted badly to this," Hakobyan said.

She noted that some people shouted "death to traitors" slogans during some events.

"But there were 11,000 men [deserters] around us. I hope that when I say traitor, it should not be an exaggeration because we have many convicts, especially officers. When we say 'death to traitors', we are not analysing ourselves," Hakobyan added.