Published on March 3, “Baku’s dangerous games and hybrid plans. Tips for Pashinyan before the elections” in the article we wrote on the eve of the Armenian elections, Baku considers possible deadly actions by the “5th Column” in Armenia.

And here on March 10, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Armenia issued a statement regarding the pressures applied to RA citizens in other countries and interference in the upcoming election processes.

“The foreign intelligence service receives intelligence information that acting on behalf of the special services of the given country in another country, various actors are trying to put pressure on Armenians and people who are RA citizens and are engaged in economic activities in the given country, pushing them to carry out actions to support some political forces that have applied for participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia, which include, but are not limited to, financial and organizational support actions by the mentioned businessmen to the given political forces”. 

The department headed by Kristine Grigoryan does not present facts, does not elaborate on which country it is about, and, apart from the actions mentioned in the announcement, what other steps are taken when it is said that:are not limited to the actions of financial and organizational support by the mentioned businessmen to the given political forces”. 

It should be noted that the police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs submitted a report to the Investigative Committee, where the report is in the process of being studied, regarding the information about pressures on RA citizens in other countries and interference in electoral processes.

And this pre-election warning of the Foreign Intelligence Service is not surprising at all, if we take into account the 2025 and 2026 elections. of reports key points in the context of hybrid pressures.

By the way, deviating a little from the topic, let us remind you that during the NA-Government question-and-answer session in the spring of 2024, Nikol Pashinyan stated: “2020 Our allies did not participate in the preparations for the 44-day war. And I know at least 2 CSTO countries that participated in preparations for war against us.”

168.amimmediately had written that Pashinyan meant Russia and Belarus, today Pashinyan remembers these countries mainly in the domestic political dimension, emphasizing the foreign political connections of specific candidates who applied for participation in the National Assembly elections.

And during the period of the above-mentioned statement, the journalists tried to get clarification from the head of the RA Foreign Intelligence Service, Kristine Grigoryan, whether it was a purely political statement or whether there is operational data on CSTO 2 countries. Grigoryan, however, refused to give any comments, saying. “The RA Prime Minister made a statement, and I cannot make any comments.”

Then he added that there are many threats to RA sovereignty, which come from several countries, without giving specific names.

“Reforms are being carried out in the RA security sector to neutralize those dangers. The priorities of our activity determined the directions of the external threats, as well as the important intelligence information for the development of the state, which the service should collect, and they are aimed at neutralizing the external threats of the republic, which come from different countries and different phenomena. And our intelligence and analysis is aimed at ensuring that policy decisions are based on solid informationChristine Grigoryan noted, adding that the external security challenges in all countries have both internal and external actors, and Armenia is no exception.

In this context, let’s add that last year was put into circulation The initiative to make amendments and additions to the Law “On National Security Bodies”, which, in particular, proposed:

– To fix the function of conducting foreign counter-intelligence activities by national security bodies,

– as a basis for implementation of counter-intelligence activities by national security agencies define the need to ensure state security in the bodies of the diplomatic service of the Republic of Armenia in foreign countries,

– to reserve the authority to define the order of cooperation of intelligence and counter-intelligence bodies to the RA Prime Minister,

– establish the authority for national security bodies to obtain access from state and local self-government bodies, organizations to information systems and databases necessary for their activities, including in online format,

– revoked Legislation on intelligence units of the National Security Service.

It is not known in which specific countries and as a result of what the government decided to consider it necessary to ensure state security in the RA diplomatic service bodies in foreign countries. I wonder how solid the intelligence information of Kristine Grigoryan’s “office” is, that acting in another country on behalf of the special services of the given country, according to pre-election logic, various actors are trying to put pressure on Armenians and people who are citizens of the Republic of Armenia and are engaged in economic activities in the given country. Why not, who or where is the source of such information?

And as we wrote in our aforementioned article, does the Foreign Intelligence Service not consider Baku’s pre-election tips dangerous, moreover, is it aware that the representatives of the Azerbaijani “civil society” coming to Armenia cooperated very well and maybe still cooperate with the special services of the Aliyev regime? Or, has RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan ever thought that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who headed Turkey’s National Intelligence Service (MIT) during the 44-day war, is communicating with him as the person who headed the intelligence service?

Let’s return to the topic of elections. Information is circulating from official circles that a large flow of voters is expected from Russia before the elections, that “representatives of one of the political forces have started booking buses and minibuses, the law enforcement officers must stop them.” If an RA citizen, for example, went abroad to work, and returns even to vote, what if there is no coercion, or if it is not “premeditated”? But let’s leave this to time and experts.

Instead, let us recall that in July 2021, after the extraordinary parliamentary elections, Nikol Pashinyan announced that his “Civil Agreement” party received a mandate from the citizens of Armenia in the elections to open an era of peaceful development for Armenia and Artsakh.

At that time 168.amthe had written how is it possible to get a mandate to open an era of peaceful development of Artsakh from the RA citizens, when before the war Pashinyan has repeatedly stated that he does not have the mandate and authority to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue from Artsakh, because they do not participate in the RA elections, so he can only represent the Republic of Armenia.

Did the former residents of Kashatagh, Karvachar region, who were deprived of their homes during the war because of Nikol Pashinyan, elect Nikol Pashinyan and give him the right to decide their future again? Maybe some paperwork issues were resolved very quickly?

By the way, such information was circulated, did the RA authorities follow their footsteps, even if they were also in their favor?

It is also necessary to understand to what extent the settling of Artsakh residents in RA is or is not in the interests of the RA authorities.

Elections are about two months away, and many things will come to the surface, and the Foreign Intelligence Service should not forget about the prevention of foreign security threats in today’s conditions, and not limit itself to devoting some part of the report.

By the way, since Baku and Ankara have a special interest in the outcome of the NA elections, shouldn’t we also think about the possibilities of pre-election pressure from there? In other words, there should not be double standards regarding the qualification of foreign interference in RA internal affairs.

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