Shavo Samsonyan was born on October 13, 2000. His mother, in an interview with Iravaban.net‘s “For the Homeland” series, recounts that she noticed her son’s patriotism from early childhood. She says it was his first teacher who raised him that way – she had named the class “Artsakhians.”

“From a young age, he was very active and quite mischievous. But at the same time, he was shy and reserved. When he would finish his homework, he was too shy to present it to the teacher,” his mother describes her son.

She had urged her son to go to Russia to avoid military service, as she was very afraid after hearing about casualties:

“He said, ‘Mom, what are you talking about? If I don’t go, and the next person doesn’t go, who will defend the homeland?'”

Shavo was conscripted into the army on January 29, 2019, and served in Ijevan.

“When the war started, I spoke with him. I said, ‘Shavo dear, might they take you too?’ He said, ‘Mom dear, we have positions here too, we can’t abandon them and leave.’ It was October 18, 1:30. We talked, but then the connection was cut off and he became unreachable. That same day they had taken him to Artsakh. When they were taken, there were 75 people. Only 2-3 survived. One of them is his friend, who always comes to visit me. He said the position had been captured, they went to retrieve the commander’s body, but they never returned. The last time he called was to my older son – he said, ‘Roman, they’ve taken me, but don’t tell mom.’ If I had known, I would have died. He told my older son, ‘Promise me you’ll take good care of mom and dad,'” the mother recounts.

According to her, the boys volunteered to go to Artsakh. Shavo’s body was found on December 19. His surviving friend recounted that after the explosion, he tried to move Shavo’s lifeless body but couldn’t – he himself was wounded in the leg. Shavo’s mother says that now that boy calls her “mama” – in place of her son.

Shavo Samsonyan had many dreams that remained unfulfilled on October 19, 2020.

Details in the video.