The head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), Andranik Simonyan, traveled to Baku on Friday to take part in an international conference organized by the Azerbaijani government — a move that has drawn scrutiny given the continued detention of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.
Simonyan is the highest-ranking Armenian official to visit Azerbaijan in more than seven years under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s administration. The NSS announced the trip in a brief statement but provided no information about Simonyan’s specific meetings or whether he would address the forum.
The visit comes as at least 23 Armenians — including eight former leaders of Artsakh — remain imprisoned in Azerbaijan. An Armenian human rights lawyer said earlier this month that some detainees have recently attempted suicide, heightening concerns over their treatment.
Critics have accused the Pashinyan government of not doing enough to secure their release, a charge the prime minister rejected again on Thursday. He told reporters that “extreme sensitivity” around the issue prevents him from disclosing details but insisted that authorities are working to bring the captives home.
A U.S.-brokered peace initiative launched by Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Washington on August 8 does not obligate Baku to free the prisoners. The NSS did not say whether Simonyan’s three-day trip would include appeals for their release. Kristine Vartanyan, an opposition lawmaker, argued that freedom for the captives should have been a prerequisite for sending such a high-level Armenian official to Baku.
The Armenian government had previously boycotted Azerbaijan’s COP29 climate summit last November over the same issue. Asked whether Simonyan’s visit represents a policy shift, Hasmik Hakobyan, a parliamentarian from the ruling Civil Contract party, replied that the captives remain “a separate issue,” adding that improved bilateral cooperation would ultimately help resolve “painful issues” faster.
Simonyan, who automatically became chairman of Armenia’s interagency commission on prisoners and missing persons after his June appointment as NSS chief, has not convened the commission since taking office.
His trip was announced the same day the government dismissed Edgar Hunanyan, commander of Armenia’s border guard troops under the NSS. No reason was given for his removal.
Simonyan, 35, is a former judge regarded as a close Pashinyan ally. He joined the NSS in 2021 after testifying against Ruben Vartanyan, then-head of Armenia’s Supreme Judicial Council, testimony that formed the basis for criminal charges against Vartanyan.
The previous NSS director, Armen Abazyan, was dismissed in June shortly after NSS officers failed to quickly apprehend Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, a critic of the prime minister, during a standoff at his Yerevan mansion.
