Edvard Asryan Appointed New Chef of Staff of Armenian Armed Forces

YEREVAN — President Vahagn Khachaturian on Thursday appointed Major General Edvard Asryan as new Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces.

Asryan replaces Artak Davtyan who was sacked, along with four other generals, on February 24, 2022.

Davtyan, along with former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and several other military officials went on trial this January on fraud and embezzlement charges related to purchases of faulty weaponry and ammunition for the armed forces.

The other officials sacked were Armen Arushanyan – Chief of the Armed Forces Engineering Troops Department; Arthur Poghosyan – Chief of the Armed Forces Moral and Psychological Support Department; Andranik Makaryan – Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces General Training Department; and Armen Harutyunyan – Chief of the Armed Forces Missile Troops Artillery Department.

Major General Edward Asryan had previously served as Head of the Operations Department at the General Staff. On February 25, 2021, he signed a letter with tens of other top army brass demanding the resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

According to a set of government –designed proposals to the law on defense, approved by the parliament earlier this month, the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff will automatically hold also the post of first deputy defense minister.

According to Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, the changes will make the military’s command and control structure “smoother” and more “vertical

The changes are part of a major reform of the military promised by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh.