The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, carrying out consistent and effective fight in the direction of disclosing, preventing and disrupting the intelligence activity of the special services of foreign states directed against the sovereignty, territorial inviolability and external security of the Republic of Armenia, as a result of operative-search and criminal procedural complex actions, has detected a case of high treason committed by an organized group.

In particular.

As a result of investigative and other procedural actions taken during the preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated and being investigated in the Investigation Department of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, and along with complex operative-search measures taken by the employees of the Counterintelligence Department, sufficient factual data were obtained that a former military man, awarded with medals "For impeccable service", "For participation in hostilities", badges, certificates of honor, a government award, with another person who is on friendly terms with him and is a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, under the pretext of looking for a job left for the Republic of Turkey and found themselves there in the field of view of the special services of Azerbaijan, accepting from them an offer to be recruited and act to the detriment of the territorial inviolability and external security of the Republic of Armenia for receiving material benefits.

From that moment on, the aforementioned persons, united around one goal of committing high treason, formed a stable connection with each other, an indestructible, mutual agreement, carefully and for a long time prepared for the commission of the crime, fulfilled the distribution of roles, expected income, planned ways of concealing the crime, means of communication, volume, value of the information to be transmitted, having received appropriate instructions and directions from the Azerbaijani special services.

After the preparatory actions, the aforementioned persons, accompanied by employees of the special services of the Republic of Azerbaijan, left Turkey for another country to meet with high-ranking officials of the special services of Azerbaijan, document the orally concluded agreement and receive specific instructions.

On the territory of the Azerbaijani Embassy, ​​located in a third country, the mentioned persons signed recruitment agreements, put their signatures and agreed to go over to the enemy's side and act to the detriment of the Republic of Armenia, after which they received appropriate pseudonyms and amounts in the form of an advance payment from the employees of the special services.

In order to act as secretly as possible and establish contact with foreign special services in a hidden form, the members of the organized group handed over the Turkish phone numbers they used to the special services and information about the identification of web applications registered under these numbers.

Then the aforementioned persons periodically kept in touch with the employees of the special services of Azerbaijan, received specific instructions and directions from them, within the framework of which they photographed and filmed the military units of the RA Ministry of Defense, the military equipment installed there, ascertained the number of servicemen in the military units, the personal data of the commanders of the military units, the location of training battalions, as well as anti-air defense systems of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, data on the presence of anti-air defense means near special and the most important objects, also photographed and filmed special and especially important objects of state and strategic importance: reservoirs, hydroelectric power plants, strategic heights, bomb shelters intended for shelter during hostilities, the number and movement of troops, military equipment. These data were sent through mobile applications to employees of the Azerbaijani special services, during this period they activated Internet access and thus made it possible to determine the exact coordinates of the location of specially protected objects.

After that, during the hostilities initiated against the Republic of Artsakh on 27 September, 2020, in order to fulfill the new orders received from the Azerbaijani special services, one of the members of the organized group, under the pretext of participation in hostilities, went as the commander of a volunteer detachment to the battlefield, to the defensive area Hadrut of the Republic of Artsakh, and, taking advantage of this opportunity, in the period until the end of October of the same year, continued his treacherous work of collecting and transmitting information to the special services of the enemy state, during which he photographed, filmed and sent information to the enemy state from his mobile phones about the anti-air defense on the territory of Artsakh and Armenia, missile systems, armored vehicles, combat positions, their units, as well as other units participating in hostilities, military units, their deployment, etc.

As a result, the mentioned actions made it possible for the enemy, from a strategic point of view, to determine the locations of especially important weapons and military equipment, to deliver precise strikes and defeat targets, to disable the Armenian army formations, military equipment and manpower, as a result of which the combat effectiveness of the Ministry of Defense of RA and the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh was significantly undermined, further implementation of combat missions was hampered, favorable conditions were created for the enemy's troops to break through the defense line in the southern direction and further advance deep into Artsakh.

Continuing criminal actions, one of the members of the organized group with the same intent photographed and via the Internet also transmitted accurate information about the location of one of the anti-aircraft missile systems located in the deep rear, and thereby making it a target for a targeted attack, as a result of which made it possible for the enemy to deliberately attack and destroy the target using a strike unmanned aerial vehicle.

Thus, the members of the organized group went over to the side of the enemy and for a reward through espionage, providing other assistance with the aim of transferring, collected, kept with themselves and passed on to representatives of a foreign state information containing state and official secrets, thereby providing the enemy with a real opportunity to make accurate calculations of forces and assets, determine the number of forces and assets involved in performing tasks in different sectors, determine the location, deployment, possible scope of tasks and the likely nature of actions that were to be performed by different military units of the RA Armed Forces, during the conduct of hostilities create for the enemy favorable conditions for targeted and effective destruction, hinder the proper fulfillment of the tasks assigned to the units of the Artsakh Defense Army and the RA Armed Forces, thereby committing high treason to the detriment of the territorial inviolability and external security of the Republic of Armenia.

For the commission of the aforementioned criminal acts, two of the members of the organized group were involved as accused and gave self-confessed testimonies: arrest has been chosen as a restrictive measure against them.

It should be noted that as a result of the investigative actions carried out during the preliminary investigation in the criminal case, including more than a dozen searches in the apartments or auxiliary buildings of the accused, means of special communication, cell phones, videotapes with video footage made during military exercises, as well as other items relevant to the criminal case.

The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia carries out a consistent fight in the direction of disclosing, suppressing and preventing the intelligence activities of special services and other organizations of foreign states, as well as individuals, and will continue to take effective measures in the direction of protecting the security of the individual, society and the state, the constitutional order, the rights and freedoms of citizens from external and internal threats.

At the same time, the National Security Service of RA informs that high treason refers to especially grave crimes and, taking into account its nature and degree of public danger, the legislation established severe types and measures of sentence, namely, imprisonment for a term of fifteen to twenty years or life imprisonment with or without confiscation of property.

Note: The suspect or accused of an alleged crime is considered innocent as long as his/her guilt is not proven in a manner prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure of RA - by the court decision entered into legal force.