All internal security threats neutralised in Armenia, says PM Pashinyan

Amid a wave of arrests targeting members of the clergy in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has asserted that all security challenges with the potential to destabilise the country have been successfully neutralised.

Pashinyan delivered the remarks during a meeting with personnel from the National Security Service (NSS), where he officially presented the agency’s newly appointed director, Andranik Simonyan, as reported by Caliber.Az, citing Armenian media outlets.

"All those threats that could have destabilised Armenia and created security risks have now been successfully neutralised," Pashinyan stated, according to his press service.

He further noted that the current challenges facing the country are hybrid in nature, encompassing elements of terrorism, attempts to undermine constitutional order, and espionage.

The arrests, which began intensifying in June 2025, are part of an escalating conflict between Pashinyan’s government and the Armenian Apostolic Church, a cornerstone of Armenian identity with significant political influence. The crackdown followed Armenia’s territorial concessions to Azerbaijan in May 2024, particularly the return of four border villages, which sparked widespread protests led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, head of the “Holy Struggle” movement.

Galstanyan, arrested on June 25, was charged with terrorism and plotting a coup, alongside 13 others, for allegedly planning bombings, arson, and disruptions to power and transportation systems. His lawyer, Sergei Harutyunyan, dismissed the charges as “fiction,” claiming no incriminating evidence was found.

By Khagan Isayev