Harutiunyan was born in Akhalkalaki, Georgian SSR (now Georgia), a region with a large Armenian population.

In 1992, he became the Deputy Chief of Staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

[2] In February 2000, he discussed a plan for cooperation between Armenia and Belarus with his Belarusian counterpart, Aleksandr Petrovich Chumakov during his visit to Minsk to discuss Armenian use of Belarusian military plants for upgrading Armenian military equipment.

On 22 July 2002, Harutiunyan was stripped of his military rank of lieutenant general by order of President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.

In his appointment ceremony, he thanked the Prime Minister for his confidence, stating he hopes his leadership will "preserve the positive we had in the Army" and "assess the objective and subjective reasons within a short period of time and submit a new package of reforms".