Opposition MP says Armenian authorities had intelligence on 2020 war days before its outbreak

An Armenian opposition MP has accused the country’s leadership of failing to act on what he calls “credible intelligence” ahead of the 2020 Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war.

In a social media post on Friday, Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the Pativ Unem parliamentary faction, said it was now a “confirmed fact” that the authorities had been aware of the high likelihood of renewed hostilities before the start of the 44-day conflict.

According to Abrahamyan, the government possessed reliable intelligence at least two days prior to the outbreak of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in late September 2020. He also claimed that information regarding the potential resumption of war had been relayed to Armenian officials as early as mid-September, citing what he described as “reasonable data” circulating in Nagorno-Karabakh at the time.

He argued that the authorities failed to draw the necessary conclusions from those warnings.

“The main responsibility for the unavoidable consequences of the war and its heavy losses lies with the man at the top of the government pyramid,” Abrahamyan wrote, accusing the leadership of inaction and poor decision-making that resulted in “a series of unending tragedies” for the country.