Armenia rethinks security architecture amid peace push Washington impulse

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s team has once again sought to signal its commitment to the U.S.-led peace process between Baku and Yerevan. In this context, Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan stated at the international conference “Comprehensive Security and Resilience–2025” that “August 8 has comprehensively changed our security environment.”

He added: “The security system on which we had placed great hope—at least until the end of the 2020 war and in the period following it—did not show viability, and we needed an alternative ideology, or a need to embark on a path of thinking or searching for a new security architecture so that we could start thinking.”

Grigoryan also emphasised that Armenia must revise its national security strategy in light of the new realities in the South Caucasus created by the Washington agreements.

Discussions on developing a new security strategy in Armenia began earlier this year. In February 2025, speaking at a press briefing, Armen Grigoryan emphasised the need to revise the country’s national security concept. However, when journalists asked at the time what specific changes might be expected, the Security Council Secretary was unable to provide concrete answers.

By contrast, in his address yesterday, Grigoryan clearly stated that Armenia’s current strategic priority is establishing peace and creating conditions to adapt security structures to the new realities.

“To ensure security and adapt to our environment, peace is necessary first of all; that is our priority strategic objective. Also, after having peace, to institutionalise it and make it a daily work of care, but also create an environment for the adaptation of security structures,” said Grigoryan.

In other words, the senior Armenian official effectively reinforced Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s call that “peace must be preserved.” In his recent address to the Armenian people, the Prime Minister highlighted the historic significance of the Washington agreements, which enshrine the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s borders. He also noted that, as of August 8, 2025, the country has entered an entirely new reality — a new South Caucasus and a new Republic of Armenia.

“We, citizens of the Third Republic, do not know what true peace is. From the first days of independence, we have lived in an atmosphere of conflict — either in war or in a state of ‘neither war nor peace.’ Peace is unfamiliar to us and, in many ways, foreign, but it is essential to preserve it,” Pashinyan said.

Returning to Armen Grigoryan’s recent statements, it is evident that they align with the Prime Minister’s vision of a “real Armenia,” an initiative that gained momentum after Pashinyan expressed willingness to recognise Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. The Washington negotiations, however, provided a decisive impetus for re-evaluating security policies under this new ideological framework.

This context is reflected in steps taken by Armenia’s leadership — from recognising Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity to the decision to remove the image of Mount Ağrı from the official stamp used at border crossings. The latter measure, however, sparked a wave of discontent within Armenia, with the opposition describing it as “a bow by the current authorities toward Azerbaijan and Türkiye.”

Nevertheless, this action should be seen as an initiative by the current government, undertaken for the long-term benefit of Armenia itself. After all, the inclusion of Mount Ağrı in Armenian state symbols conflicted with Yerevan’s declared commitment to peace with Azerbaijan and Türkiye, as it visibly reflected a revanchist ideology. That issue is now effectively neutralised.

Hopefully, the Armenian government will continue on the path of peace, with a clear understanding that the security of any country ultimately depends on regional stability and constructive relations with its neighbours.