Armenian experts believe army losses in recent war higher than official figure
By Vafa Ismayilova
Armenia’s military losses in the recent war with Azerbaijan are much higher than the official figure presented by Yerevan, Armenian military analysts have told Russia's Kavkazskiy-Uzel news website.
On January 20, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan said that bodies of 3,439 servicemen killed in the war had been found.
However, experts Ayk Khachikyan and Robert Nazaryan believe that this figure does not seem to be accurate.
Ayk Khachatryan said that the deputy premier's statement could be taken seriously if the methodology for calculating combat losses were presented. Accrording to Khachatryan, it is not clear if the servicemen from Nagorno-Karabakh, who had been killed during the war and buried there, were taken into account while calculating the army losses.
Robert Nazaryan also expressed skepticism over Tigran Avinyan's statement, saying that those allegations do not inspire confidence.
Earlier, the Caspian Defence Studies Institute estimated that Armenia’s losses in the war reached 6,000 servicemen, while the number of injured made up 8,000.
It should be noted that Azerbaijan’s losses in the 44-day-war with Armenia is 2,855, according to the information provided by Azerbaijani Defence Ministry on January 18. In addition, 50 Azerbaijani soldiers are still missing.
Armenia and Azerbaijan started the second war over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region on September 27. Six weeks of fighting ended with the singing of a Russia-brokered peace agreement on November 10.
The deal stipulates the exchange of prisoners as well as bodies of soldiers following the war. The peace agreement also stipulated the return of Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions to Azerbaijan’s control. Before the signing of the agreement, Azerbaijan had liberated around 300 city centres, settlements and villages, including historic Shusha city.
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