Prime Minister names main causes of military suicides

ArmInfo. Suicides in the  army are primarily caused by three factors: gambling debts, family  issues, and psychological pressure exerted on a soldier after falling  asleep while on  combat on duty. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan announced this during a briefing on July 30, citing  investigative data.

Speaking about the latter factor, he noted that, as a rule, after a  soldier falls asleep while on duty, he finds himself in difficult  psychological conditions, as his fellow soldiers begin to ignore him.  The reason, according to the Prime Minister, is that by doing so, the  soldier jeopardizes the safety of the entire unit.  Finding  themselves isolated and under psychological pressure, he added,  soldiers commit suicide. He emphasized that 85-90% of suicide cases  in the army are related to these three reasons.

"It's not the military leadership's fault, but my fault, that we  still haven't found a solution to these problems," Pashinyan stated.   He also noted that this is precisely why the government's program  emphasizes the need for physical and psychological training, starting  in school, as well as broadening one's worldview. Ultimately, as  Pashinyan stated, a soldier must be psychologically resilient enough  to avoid falling asleep while on duty. And if this is unavoidable, he  should turn to his fellow soldiers and ask them to relieve him for a  short time.  "I'm glad you asked this question, and I have the  opportunity to speak about this in detail and convey this information  to the public. I'm sure most of them were unaware of this," he  concluded.

It's worth noting that, according to research by the Vanadzor Office  of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (HCA), 30 deaths of servicemen  were recorded in the Armenian Armed Forces in the first seven months  of 2026. The organization noted that 11 of the 30 were officially  classified as service-related, while 19 were classified as  non-service-related.

In 2026, all military deaths occurred in non-combat situations.  Moreover, over the past two years and five months, no deaths in the  Armed Forces have been recorded as a result of ceasefire violations;  the last such case was in February 2024, when four members of the  Yerkrapah Volunteer Union were killed as a result of a ceasefire  violation.