Armenia’s Investigative Committee Claims 7 People Attempted Coup

Three of the Seven Have been Detained

Armenia’s Investigative Committee on Wednesday issued a statement detailing charges filed against seven individuals, alleging that they were involved in a coup plot against Armenia’s current government that was funded by Russian sources.

The Investigative Committee said that the charges stem from a lengthy probe by Armenia’s National Security Service that found five Armenian citizens and two individuals from Nagorno-Karabakh allegedly each receiving 220,000 rubles ($2,377) to train in a military facility in Russia, with the ultimate aim of “preparing to usurp power … using violence and the threat of violence to take over the powers of government.”

“As a result of large-scale investigative actions conducted with active and effective cooperation with the Police, among them about three dozen searches, interrogations, sufficient factual data were obtained on the allegation that the RA citizens S.G., A.Ye., A.H., Ye.S, A.S., as well as former residents of Nagorno Karabakh A.M., A.S., with prior agreement with others not identified yet, committed preparation of usurping power; namely they willfully created conditions to possess the authorities of the RA Government through usurping the power of the Republic of Armenia – using violence and threatening to use violence,” said Armenia’s Investigative Committee in its statement, identifying the individuals only with the initials of their first and last names.

The statement said that the aforementioned individuals, “with prior agreement, with the intent to usurp the RA power,” in 2024, recruited Armenian citizens and Artsakh residents under the pretext of providing quarterly military training in Russia, where they would learn to use and operate heavy weapons. The statement added that it was understood that the trainees “after returning to the RA would carry out combat duty, as well as to transfer knowledge to others, each for a monthly fee of about 220,000 RF rubles.”

The Investigative Committee alleges that the organizers of the group trained in a military facility in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don. Following the training, the statement said, the recruits were transferred to a different facility where they underwent background checks, polygraph tests “in order to find out their personal characteristics and political views, the relationship with the RA law enforcement bodies.”

“After preliminary checks the members of the criminal group deployed the recruits in the ‘Arbat’ military base… after which they held combat trainings with them in a closed area – inside the building, with weapons already known to them,” the statement alleged.

“They [the recruits] were told that the goal of the trainings is to return to the Republic of Armenia and remove the current authority, making calls to cleanse and save the Republic of Armenia in that way,” the Investigative Committee statement added.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee claimed that the operation was thwarted by the recruits’ refusal to participate in the “armed revolution” to overthrow the government, with some of them also refusing to take part in the training and returning to Armenia.