According to the Investigative Committee, they as well as four other suspects wanted by the authorities recruited individuals in Armenia and sent them to Russia for military training in preparation for the “armed coup.”
A statement released by the committee said the coup plot was foiled after “some of the recruited persons refused to participate in the training and returned to Armenia” from a “military base” in Russia called “Arbat.”
No information about such a base could be found from open sources. But “Arbat” is known to be the name of a Russian militia made up of ethnic Armenians reportedly fighting in Ukraine. The Investigative Committee did not say whether it is connected with the alleged coup plot.
Nor did the law-enforcement identify any of the arrested or fugitive suspects. Other sources told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that one of the detainees is Serob Gasparian, the leader of a militant group called Sev Hovaz (Black Panther). Gasparian has been an outspoken critic of the Armenian government. His lawyer, Gurgen Grigorian, said he denies the accusations but refused to comment further.
Some political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian rushed to present the accusations as a proven fact. Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security, claimed that Armenia’s “internal and external enemies continue to seek hand in hand multiple ways to regain power,” including through “terrorism.” He did not name them.
The authorities claimed to have thwarted two other coup attempts last year. In September 2023, the National Security Service arrested a once prominent politician, Albert Bazeyan, and seven members of an obscure group called Khachakirner (Crusaders) after raiding its offices and confiscated weapons, ammunition as well as electronic jamming devices allegedly kept there.
Bazeyan was moved to house arrest in March and set free last month. He strongly denies the coup charges brought against him. It is still not clear whether he and the other suspects will go on trial.
Five other men were arrested in November. The NSS described them as members of a separate armed group that plotted to seize government buildings and “disrupt the work of state bodies.” Very few details of that criminal case have been made public since then. The suspects went on trial in July.