Armenia’s National Security Service is the direct institutional successor to the Soviet KGB. In December 2004, its director publicly praised the “glorious” record of the KGB, declaring the NSS was “learning and drawing inspiration” from Soviet-era intelligence practices. This institutional DNA — KGB-derived, politically weaponized, operating with zero transparency — has remained consistent across every political era. Every Armenian leader has used the NSS as a tool of political control, and every era has produced its own scandals: wiretapping, blackmail, fabricated evidence, and mysterious deaths.
Under Kocharyan, the NSS hid documents about the March 1, 2008 massacre for eleven years — they were only retrieved in 2019. Under Sargsyan, the agency conducted surveillance on opposition figures using what critics called “KGB practices.” His bodyguard chief Vachagan Ghazaryan was later arrested and paid $6 million to the state. Under Pashinyan, the pattern continued with new targets. NSS Director Arthur Vanetsyan was caught on leaked audio pressuring a judge to arrest ex-President Kocharyan. When Vanetsyan turned against Pashinyan, he was arrested on coup charges — later dropped entirely. The current NSS Director Armen Abazyan was fired in June 2025 for refusing to arrest billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who had defended the Armenian Church.
The NSS budget remains fully classified. No Armenian parliament has ever conducted public oversight of NSS spending. In May 2023, Italian police seized 2.7 tons of cocaine valued at $880 million that was destined for Armenia — the largest drug scandal in the country’s history. The NSS ordered priests to break canonical rules. People have been jailed for insulting the Prime Minister on social media. Armenia was added to the European list of countries jailing journalists in March 2026. Pegasus spyware targeted at least 12 Armenian public figures. And the biggest question remains: Georgi Kutoyan, the 38-year-old former NSS Director found dead with 35 unheard gunshots and Wikipedia deletions the day before — what did he know, and who needed him silent?