Coup Plot Involving Russia Prevented in Armenia

The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia has initiated a criminal case regarding an attempt to usurp power.

The agency claims that the defendants received training in Russia.

The names of the defendants in the case are not disclosed. The court arrested three of them, and four others were put on the wanted list.

According to the investigation, they planned to seize power in the country using weapons.

It is claimed that the defendants recruited Armenian citizens and former residents of Nagorno-Karabakh for a fee of 220,000 rubles per month each.

The recruits were sent to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don under the pretext of attending a three-month training camp to learn how to use weapons. There they were subjected to a polygraph test.

After that, the recruits were told that the ultimate goal of the meeting was to return to Armenia to overthrow the current government.

They were trained to fight in closed spaces and inside buildings.

Some citizens reportedly refused to participate in the coup and returned home.

Investigators say that the group had accomplices in Russia, who have not yet been identified. Moscow has not commented on the report.

As previously reported, the Armenian authorities decided to freeze their participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Recalling the results of the second Karabakh war, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the reason for this policy was the CSTO member states’ actual refusal to provide security support to Armenia.