During the 2020 Artsakh War of 2020, he and his friends in Armenia launched an initiative, financed by their own funds and donations, to provide much needed supplies for the war effort.
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They began by delivering medicine to Artsakh from France. Then, at the request of Commandos, Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, Hakobyan and French-Armenian Gor Haroyan sent about 18,000 survival blankets to Armenia. These contained a reflective covering that would protect Armenian soldiers from drone surveillance. He says that the blankets, unfortunately, arrived at the end of the war.
One month after the war ended, the team went to work again. This time, it was to supply provisions to the soldiers guarding the new border with Azerbaijan.
Hakobyan says he saw a video on the Internet where soldiers guarding Syunik border positions were burning tires to keep warm. In another photo, they were sleeping under makeshift plastic lean-tos.
He immediately contacted Astghineh Pasoyan and launched the Facebook “Tents for the Armenian Heroes” campaign to deliver army tents to Armenia.
The first batch was delivered in December 2020. In Yerevan, Mikael was assisted by friends. The tents weighed 86 kg each. At the same time, given the demand, similar tents began to be produced in Armenia. Hakobyan sent 380 military tents from France, 100 of which were sewn in Armenia.
Hakobyan worries that the soldiers face a rough winter given the light sleeping bags and camping tents they now have. Installing a stove in such tents is impossible
What he sent is made of 2,000 knotted wax cloth, which is hard to find in Armenia. In total, Mikael and members of the Tents for Heroes initiative donated 50 million drams (about $100,000) worth of goods to the army, which he says was fully documented and registered with the Armenian Ministry of Defense to rule out double purchases and corruption risks.
Suren Stepanyan, a journalist living in Yerevan, undertook the task of delivering generators, flashlights, radio equipment and sleeping bags to the servicemen guarding the new border with Azerbaijan in Syunik and Gegharkunik.
During the war, he provided $120,000 in various goods from the diaspora: 4,000 sleeping bags, 4,000 ponchos, 500 radios, and cars.
Stepanyan says he got to work after receiving a request from a friend in Vardenis to send a small generator.
“I called my friend in Canada. He sent me $1,000 an hour later. We bought two generators and 10 tents. Realizing the need was great, I posted an appeal on Facebook and about $5,000 was raised,” says Stepanyan. “We went to Goris. The place was in a neglected state. We saw soldiers were sleeping under plastic sheeting. When they say there is are no drones, fine, you understand they cost billions. But what about sleeping bags? Generators cost $300. We photographed this so that people could see where their soldiers were sleeping. I published it.”
Stepanyan says military police colonels left Yerevan for Goris following the video he had published. Ten days later, posts in that section of Armenian border had been supplied with everything. (He visited 7 positions).
“I did not imagine that a video would have such a response,” says Stepanyan, adding that the top military brass organized an “official visit” to the area for reporters. Stepanyan says officers warned of the “security risks” such photos pose.
Read more: https://hetq.am/en/article/132736