US sword of Damocles hanging over Armenia's arms business NSS under Langley's microscope

Washington continues to take active measures to counter deals between North Korea and Russia to supply weapons for the war against Ukraine. Not only countries and organisations but also individuals are under the heavy American sword of Damocles for attempts to directly or indirectly export or re-export any weapons or related materials from North Korea. Slovak citizen Ashot Mkrtychev was also on this list.

According to the State Department press release issued the day before and signed by spokesman Matthew Miller, the United States imposes sanctions on three organisations from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Slovakia, which are linked to the sanctions circumvention network that tried to organise arms shipments from the DPRK to Russia. The sanctions list includes the Russian company Versus, Kazakhstan's Defence Engineering, and Slovakia's Versor. The head or owner of these three firms is Slovakian citizen Ashot Mkrtychev, against whom sanctions were imposed by Washington in March this year.

Mkrtychev, according to the agency, planned to organise the transfer of more than two dozen weapons and ammunition to Russia in exchange for a range of goods, including raw materials and commodities, during talks with DPRK and Russian officials.

"These actions reaffirm our commitment to identify, expose, and severely target third-country actors supporting Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. We will also continue to take action against those seeking to circumvent our sanctions," the State Department said in a statement.

On March 30 this year, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on Slovakian citizen Ashot Mkrtychev for mediating in the arms business between Russia and the DPRK. The US Treasury Department claims that between late 2022 and early 2023, Mkrtychev worked with DPRK officials to obtain more than 20 types of weapons and ammunition for Russia in exchange for materials ranging from commercial aircraft, raw materials and goods to be sent to the DPRK.

In turn, we would like to note that despite the fact that Mkrtychev is a Slovakian citizen, nevertheless, there is every reason to suspect that he is closely connected with both the Armenian Embassy in Bratislava and the Armenian security services. The fact is that Armenia has been in the epicentre of arms scandals more than once in the past. In particular, in 2011, Yerevan was involved in a scandal involving illegal supplies of Moldovan arms to Libya, where a bloody civil war was already underway. In 2014-2016, Armenia made good money on the sale of weapons to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which involved 9,301 items of weapons worth $1.5 million. And this was against the background of the fact that the UN was making efforts to resolve the situation in DR Congo and bring peace to the country.

In 2010-2011, the Sudanese Air Forces leased an Armenian aircraft - EK-76300 ("Il-76"), the owner of which was Lieutenant General Stepan Galstyan, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces. One can only speculate what kind of activity the aircraft of the Armenian general has deployed in the conflicting Sudan. Let us recall that on November 30, 2012, this plane crashed in Congo, claiming the lives of 30 people. Both aircraft EK-76592 and EK-76300 were operated under documents issued by the Armenian Civil Aviation, and the flight and technical crews consisted of Armenians.

Another Armenian airline, Vertir, owned by Rafik Movsesyan, the uncle of Artem Movsesyan, the head of Armenia's General Directorate of Civil Aviation, was blacklisted by the US in 2013 because it was involved as an intermediary in an "illegal aviation procurement network to circumvent US sanctions against Iran".

Armenia has also been implicated in arms shipments from Bulgaria to Iran, in particular, 100 Bulgarian-made RPG-22 anti-tank missiles.

The arms trade, and even more so the shadow trade, is a special world where outsiders and singles are not allowed. Every trader or network of organisations is backed either by the state at the government level or by the military and special services. Given this, it would be naive to believe that Ashot Mkrtychev is an ordinary businessman who managed to become an intermediary between Moscow and Pyongyang in such a delicate issue as the arms trade. The trace of Armenia's National Security Service is more than evident here. But if Armenia thinks that they will get away with it this time due to their "long-suffering" myth, they are very mistaken. Washington is serious here. That is what yesterday's press release of the State Department indicates. And, as we know, where the State Department is, there are also serious gentlemen from Langley nearby. "Big Brother" is watching.