​Pashinyan, Babayan, Sefilyan – a bunch of smugglers – COMMENT

The cooperation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan does not seem outwardly reprehensible or criminal. However, the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and permissiveness is a big crime.

Recently, Pashinyan’s friend Samvel Babayan was transferred to the post by the Armenian community in Karabakh.

S. Babayan was born on March 5, 1965, in Khankendi, and later received Armenian citizenship. He played a leading role in the occupation of Lachin and Shusha. Nicknamed “Syamo” he represents the Dashink party in Karabakh. Babayan was one of the closest people to Serzh Sargsyan. In 2000, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison over the attempt to kill the leader of the Armenian separatist regime in Karabakh – Arkadi Ghukasyan, however, after being detained for four years, he was pardoned and released.

Syamo was also a defendant in a criminal case in 2017. He and his two accomplices were convicted of smuggling the Russian Igla anti-aircraft missile system. The investigation revealed that the persons who delivered the Igla air defense system to Armenia acted on the orders of S. Babayan, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison. This whole story was under the scrutiny of Georgia. Employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia detained 40-year-old Armenian citizen Robert A., declared wanted in the smuggling of the Igla air defense system through Georgian territory. The investigation into this criminal case is ongoing. The book “Narco Karabakh” by British author Harold Kane published in 2019, also narrates about Armenian smuggling. The writer notes that not a single country in the post-Soviet space has received as much assistance as Armenia. Harold Kane also touched on Sargsyan’s tearful letter to former US President Barack Obama in 2014.

“When a representative of this ethnic group in the Caucasus extends one helping hand as a sign of friendship, on the other hand, he will certainly hold a grenade and even an arsenal of weapons,” the author notes. According to Harold Kane, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Bridget Brink noted that humanitarian and technical assistance worth more than $ 2 billion under various programs was allocated to Armenia, which is the largest per capita sum in the entire post-Soviet space. “United States believed that it supported an ally in the post-Soviet space. Perhaps this prevented the growth of Russian influence in Yerevan. However, despite the assistance provided, at a crucial moment, official Yerevan sided with Moscow”, – the author cited as an example of the meeting between Russian and Armenian presidents in 2015. He recalled that after that conference, Sargsyan announced Armenia’s intention not to join the European Union, but the Eurasian Economic Union under Russia’s patronage.

The book highlights that Armenia continues to purchase Russian weapons, becoming the “strategic satellite of Moscow.” According to the author, despite the arms embargo imposed on Armenia, Russia continued to supply arms to this country. In 2005, US law enforcement authorities arrested Arthur Solomonyan and a group of Armenian smugglers for illegal importation of Russian-made weapons from Yerevan. An indictment from the FBI to Solomonyan revealed that he and his accomplices planned to sell 200 grenades in America. That ammunition was bought from the Russian military in Chechnya. “The arms trade has long turned into a profitable business. Zhirayr Sefilyan, one of the local merchants, brought weapons to the country and sold them at the highest price. In Yerevan, he is known as a dealer of many international groups, “the author of the book said, emphasizing that the representative of the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, Samvel Babayan, has arranged the supply of arms to Iran and other countries in transit through Georgia.

“Armenia’s participation in the illegal arms trade has already caused consequences of international importance. So, in 2018, Spanish law enforcement agencies conducted large-scale operations against Armenian mafia in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, and Albacete.”

So who is Jirair Sefilian? He is the “former commander” of the “Shusha special military battalion.” On December 10, 2006, Jirair, together with his fellow soldier Vardan Malkhasyan, was found guilty of forcible overthrow of legal state power, carrying weapons illegally. They were sentenced to one and a half years imprisonment. On April 7, 2005, Sefilyan and 4 of his accomplices were arrested on charges of attracting people to riots. The European Court of Human Rights passed a ruling alleging a violation of Sefilian’s rights. Despite serious charges brought against him, he was released a month later. In 2015, Sefilyan was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison, but subsequently, his sentence reduced to two years. Then 12 deputies of the Armenian parliament, including the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, the head of the Tsarukyan faction, the millionaire Gagik Tsarukyan, secured his release on bail of one thousand dollars. After the change of power in 2018, Jirair Sefilian became the favorite of Nikol Pashinyan. As the famous saying goes: “A fisherman always sees another from afar.” That fully applies to Nikol Pashinyan, Samvel Babayan, and Jirair Sefilyan. Recently, Nikol Pashinyan’s name keeps popping up in scandals involving the smuggling of weapons, cigarettes, and diamonds. Mikayel Minasyan, the influential son-in-law of former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, said that after the scandal over the illegal importation of cigarettes and diamonds, Nikol Pashinyan involved Armenia in arms smuggling. “Armenia has the right to buy armaments from Russia at domestic market prices. Armenia and the Russian army can buy weapons and ammunition from Russian manufacturers at the same prices. These figures differ from international prices by up to 65%.”

According to Minasyan, N. Pashinyan assigned this case to David Galstyan: “Pashinyan authorized David Galstyan through the Ministry of Defense and gave him the privilege to order 100 units of weapons on behalf of the Republic of Armenia. Armenia buys from the David Galstyan’s offshore, let’s say 60 of these 100 units of weapons, and 60 of them arrive in Armenia. And those originally ordered and unpaid 40 units, David Galstyan, who has an agreement with a third country, sent directly from Russia to a third country, for example, to the UAE. After the third country, the weapon ends up in the fourth. Sooner or later, Russia learns that the weapons sold to Armenia ended up in the fourth country. In order not to spoil relations with Armenia, Russia chose to punish these Mafiosi. Hence, official Moscow declared David Galstyan “persona non grata” and forbade him to enter the territory of Russia for ten years.

Samvel Babayan, one of the leaders of the Armenian armed forces in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, also appeared on the list of contrabandists. The international community, in particular, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, are calling for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, the proteges of Nikol Pashinyan condone the smugglers and criminals. Neither the United States nor Russia nor France has spoken out about the participation in this massive scandal of Pashinyan, Babayan, and Sefilyan. Turns out that this trinity play right into their hands. Or who then rescued Samvel Babayan and Jirair Sefilyan from prison ?!

After all, as they say, “A thief should sit in jail.”