Armenia Appoints Former Police Chief to Head Military Police; Opposition Holds Talks with UK Envoy

By decree of the President of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturyan, Aram Hovhannisyan has been appointed as the Head of the Military Police under the Ministry of Defense. This decision was made following a proposal by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

New Leadership for the Military Police

According to the official announcement, the appointment was carried out based on Article 133, Part 1 of the Constitution of Armenia, as well as Articles 35.1 and 38 (Part 1, Point 2) of the relevant laws. As reported by Public Radio, the official decree states:

"Aram Hovhannisyan is appointed as the head of the military police of the Ministry of Defense."

Hovhannisyan steps into the role replacing Major-General Ashot Zakaryan, who had commanded the institution since August 2020 before resigning on August 13. Prior to this new military appointment, Hovhannisyan served as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Chief of Police from 2023 to 2025.

Parliamentary Opposition Meets with UK Ambassador

In parallel political developments, the Public Relations and Communication Department of the National Assembly reported that on August 17, Anna Grigoryan, head of the "Armenia" opposition faction, hosted Alexandra Cole, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Armenia.

During the meeting, the parties discussed several key issues:

• Internal political developments and post-election events in Armenia.
• The dynamics of government-opposition relations within the newly elected parliament.
• Prospects for developing cooperation with Great Britain across various formats.