Armen Abazyan, the head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), was dismissed on Wednesday—just a day after his officers failed to promptly detain Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The Armenian government offered no official explanation for Abazyan’s removal, which was announced early in the day. Pashinyan, speaking to reporters shortly afterward, also avoided giving a clear reason.
“I think he deserves a bit of rest,” said Pashinyan. “He served in very tense conditions for five years. I’m sure you understand that it hasn’t been easy.”
Still, Pashinyan did not deny a connection between Abazyan’s dismissal and the controversial operation targeting Karapetyan, which the prime minister had personally ordered on Tuesday. The move came shortly after Karapetyan publicly denounced Pashinyan’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church.
That day, masked NSS officers encircled Karapetyan’s mansion in Yerevan, seemingly preparing to arrest him. However, as hundreds of his supporters gathered outside in protest, the officers refrained from storming the property and quietly withdrew by evening. Karapetyan was eventually taken into custody by police several hours later, without a public confrontation.
According to Hraparak daily, citing unnamed sources, Pashinyan was dissatisfied with the NSS’s inability to arrest Karapetyan in a public and forceful manner. The report suggested this failure prompted Abazyan’s firing.
Tigran Abrahamyan, an opposition lawmaker, echoed the theory, suggesting Abazyan may have refused to carry out certain actions he deemed excessive.
“Maybe it’s because he, too, had red lines he wasn’t willing to cross,” Abrahamyan said, adding that other political considerations may have also played a role.
Abazyan is the fifth person to lead the NSS since Pashinyan came to power seven years ago. He was appointed on November 8, 2020, just one day before Armenia signed the Russian-brokered ceasefire that ended the war with Azerbaijan in Artsakh.
