Under the current legislation, the payment of state pensions to retired officers is suspended once they return to active serve.
Defense Minister Suren Papikian, who attended the parliamentary debate today, stressed the importance of the bill in terms of reengaging experienced specialists in various military specialties.
“It concerns border military units and important special military units, for example, different types of troops. For instance, we can bring them into military units specializing on drones. We place significant importance on specialists in the fields of communication, anti-aircraft defense, and intelligence – people who have the knowledge and experience to quickly join the ranks of the Armed Forces and make their contribution,” Papikian said.
The authors of the bill, which was passed unanimously by both the pro-government majority and the opposition, explained that the list of military units to which willing retired officers can be reengaged will be determined by the Ministry of Defense.
Papikian noted that such officers will retain their pensions, provided they are placed in mid-level and junior officer positions with a rank of no higher than lieutenant colonel.
During the debate, Tigran Abrahamian, a member of the opposition Pativ Unem faction, argued that this law alone would be insufficient to replenish the army with new personnel. He suggested that for a greater effect the salaries of combat duty personnel in all military units should be doubled.
Members of the opposition Hayastan faction, meanwhile, proposed that the law be applied retroactively to those servicemen who rejoined the armed forces before this change and were deprived of their pensions.
