Russian bloggers reported earlier in the day that Karapetian, who held the post for just three months in 2021, was briefly detained by police in Moscow on Sunday. But an Armenian pro-opposition publication quoted him saying that he was only summoned to a police station in the Russian capital to familiarize himself with “documents” sent from Yerevan. He claimed that the criminal case caused “surprise and laughter” among Russian law-enforcement officials.
The authorities in Yerevan did not say whether the Russian indeed refused to extradite Karapetian. Armenia’s Interior Ministry told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that he was included on its official wanted list after being charged about a month ago with two counts of abuse of power, illegal entrepreneurship and “inactivity.” The ministry refused to give any details of the accusations.
For its part, the Office of the Prosecutor-General said an Armenian court refused to approve an arrest warrant sought by investigators and ruled that Karapetian should only be banned from leaving Armenia pending investigation.
Armenia- Defense Minister Arshak Karapetian and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visit the Yerablur Military Pantheon, Yerevan, September 21, 2021.
After his sacking in November 2021, Karapetian moved to Russia and kept a low profile for almost two years. In a video message circulated in October 2023, he blamed the Armenian government for Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive and resulting recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh. He pledged to launch a “political movement to liberate Armenia” from “a bunch of cowards and amateurs” governing it.
Pashinian hit back at Karapetian during a news conference in March. He said he sacked the 57-year-old general because the latter failed to inform him that Azerbaijani troops attacked a section of Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan in November 2021 and seized Armenian army positions there the day before.
The ex-minister countered that he was in Dubai on a working visit that day and therefore “physically unable to report the situation.” He also claimed that Pashinian ordered Armenian troops not to open fire at Azerbaijani forces that crossed another section of the border in May 2021.
Karapetian had served as chief of Armenian military intelligence until being fired in 2016 by then President Serzh Sarkisian. Pashinian appointed him as his national security adviser shortly after coming to power in May 2018. He promoted Karapetian to the post of defense minister in August 2021.