Pashinyan hurries to the EU: Soon the entire state border will be under the co

The entire state border of Armenia will come under the control of the republic’s Border Guard Service in the medium term. This was stated by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan during the presentation of the draft state budget for 2027 in the relevant commissions of the parliament.

He noted that in order to achieve positive results in the process of visa liberalization with the European Union, certain conditions must be met, certain systems must be reformed.

“And I would like to say that we are resolute in terms of moving along this path. What does this suggest? This implies, in particular, a certain transformation of the status of the border troops and the fact that, at least in the medium term, all state borders of the Republic of Armenia should be controlled by the relevant Border Service of Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

He recalled that this is also indicated in the government’s program for the next five years, and added that the Armenian authorities are smoothly following this path. In this regard, Pashinyan stressed that there was a period when not even all of Armenia’s border crossings were under its own control, but step by step all control over the country’s borders would be transferred to it. Border Guard Service. He added that this process should go through a certain path of reforms, TASS quoted him as saying.

The system of protection of the state border of Armenia with Turkey (345 km) and Iran (45 km) has been completely preserved since the Soviet era. The basis for the current stay of Russian border guards here is the interstate agreement on the status of Russian border troops on the territory of the republic, concluded in Yerevan on September 30, 1992. The maintenance of Russian border guards in the republic is provided by the governments of the two states approximately equally.

The border department of the FSB of Russia in Armenia until last year included four border detachments — in Gyumri, Armavir, Artashat and Meghri, as well as a separate checkpoint “Armenia” at Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport. On July 31, 2024, border guards ceased their activities at the capital’s airport. This was preceded by the statement of the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Alen Simonyan, on February 27, 2024, that the employees of the border service of the FSB of Russia should stop working at the capital’s airport. Later, Russian border guards were withdrawn from the border crossings on the border with Iran and Turkey and continue to be present along the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Iranian borders.

In January 2025, the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Ararat Mirzoyan, stated that the republic was ready to consider the withdrawal of Russian border guards from the Armenian-Turkish border if trusting relations were established between Yerevan and Ankara.