Opposition accuses Armenian PM Pashinyan of strengthening police, not army

Opposition MP and member of the Republican Party of Armenia Tigran Abrahamyan has accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of strengthening the police, but not the army.

The Armenian authorities, who talk about the army at the level of toasts and wishes, are going to make financial injections not into the Armed Forces, but into the police, Abrahamyan wrote on his Facebook page, Caliber.Az reports.

"A new department is being created in the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs with its regional structures, where the minimum salary is set at 433,000 drams (more than $1,000 - ed.), and the salary of patrol officers starts from 270,000 drams ($668). I am not saying that employees fighting against crime should not receive high salaries, the problem is that the army does not give the same high salary. Why is it that in the army the salary depends on the certification and increases only for three years, while in the police it is automatically increased after a five-month course? In the army too, five-month courses can be introduced and high salaries can be set.

From the most senior officials to Facebook-level officials, everyone is talking about the high probability of war, but instead of raising the salaries of servicemen and, accordingly, the level of manning, human capital, stimulated by material interest, is sent to the police," the MP said.