The former deputy head of Armenia's General Staff has been arrested in connection with a negligence case.

According to the investigation, Khachatryan did not establish a command point for the southern troop grouping under his control and failed to implement a number of necessary measures during combat operations. These oversights allowed the Azerbaijani army to capture strategically important territory without hindrance, the investigators claim. Notably, in October 2020, during the height of the fighting in Karabakh, Khachatryan was awarded the title of National Hero of Armenia.

The criminal case on charges of negligence was initiated on January 3, and Khachatryan was detained the following day. The lawyers stated that they were not given enough time to review more than a thousand pages of case materials. The defense believes that the general's arrest is an attempt to punish him for his active political stance and to assign blame for the defeat in the war with Azerbaijan. Khachatryan has denied his guilt.

In early 2021, Khachatryan was dismissed from the General Staff shortly after a dispute with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding the Russian Iskander missile systems. Pashinyan claimed that Armenia's Iskanders either did not work or "exploded only 10%." Khachatryan called these statements unserious and urged journalists not to create a false impression about this weaponry.

At the end of last year, the former Minister of Defense of Armenia, Arshak Karapetyan, was detained in Moscow at the request of Yerevan. He was released on a written pledge not to leave. Back in his homeland, Karapetyan faces criminal charges for illegal participation in entrepreneurial activities, abuse of official powers, and misuse of authority.

From 2018 to 2021, Karapetyan served as an advisor to Pashinyan. He then held the position of Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the country, and in July 2021 was appointed Minister of Defense. In November of the same year, Karapetyan was dismissed from his position. The reason for this was an armed confrontation between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops at the border of the two countries. In the escalation, Baku and Yerevan blamed each other. Pashinyan suggested that Karapetyan did not report the Azerbaijani army's invasion.

On September 27, 2020, the Second Karabakh War began. As a result, Azerbaijan regained control over part of the territories lost in the early 1990s in Karabakh. Approximately two thousand Russian soldiers were deployed to the remaining territories under the control of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh until 2025.

In the fall of 2023, Azerbaijan conducted a military operation in Karabakh, resulting in the entire territory returning under Baku's control, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ceased to exist. Russian troops left the occupied areas ahead of schedule – in June 2024.