Vahram Atanesyan, a former member of the Supreme Council of Armenia and a member of the National Assembly of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, wrote on his Facebook page:
“An archived video from a session of the Artsakh National Assembly has been distributed online. The deputy asks the government representative why the retired president is being allocated $20 million annually. The video, naturally, has aroused bewilderment, indignation, and anger among various representatives of the Armenian public. All of this would be understandable and acceptable if we were not dealing with either a “slip of the tongue,” or simple manipulation, or deliberate forgery.
Yes, annual allocations have been made from the budget for the maintenance of the office of the retired president of Artsakh, but not in the amount of twenty million dollars. If my memory serves me correctly, such an amount was first allocated in 2008, after the resignation of Arkady Ghukasyan, and amounted to seven million drams. Later, the amount increased, perhaps in recent years it reached twenty million, but definitely in drams. And why the representatives of the Stepanakert city elite do not even try to dispel the heavy impression of that video is extraordinary. Is it in their interest that the Armenian public has one more reason to be deeply disappointed with the former authorities of Artsakh?
PS: I would advise serious people who make far-reaching judgments about that video to apply to the National Assembly and find out how much money is allocated annually in the budget for the maintenance of the offices of the three retired presidents of the Republic of Armenia and to orient themselves accordingly.”
