On January 24, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs to discuss the ministry’s 2025 activity report.

Minister Arpine Sargsyan presented the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ priority areas of activity for 2025 and the progress of strategic approaches. Arpine Sargsyan touched upon the ministry’s digitalization agenda, the digital products already put into operation, as well as the processes under digitalization. The work carried out within the framework of Armenia-EU visa liberalization was presented.

Reference was made to the work on the introduction of the biometric passport and identification card infrastructure, in particular, the process of implementing the public-private partnership agreement, including the selection and construction process of the private partner’s geographical network of regional offices, the issues of the head office, the text of documents and security components. In response to the Prime Minister’s question, the Minister noted that the location of 21 of the 22 offices has been confirmed. “According to our French partners, it will be ensured that residents who will use this service will have access to the office within a maximum of 30 minutes,” the Minister noted.

Special attention was paid to the Strategic Plan for Migration and Citizenship, which stems from the Demographic Strategy and, at the same time, the Visa Action Plan. The citizenship component was emphasized, as well as the imperative of a comprehensive review of the institution. It was noted that applications for Armenian citizenship are accepted digitally. “Since January 1, everything is digital. All verification processes are carried out through the platform, including queue management and payment processes," Minister Sargsyan noted.

The transformation of the State Population Register was also emphasized. It was noted that the goal is one: to create a unified, universal and accurate database, any data of which will have legal force and a time stamp. Various departments will no longer maintain their own databases, state bodies will no longer direct citizens to submit any kind of reference or additional data. Citizens will have access to their own data, the ability to export them, as well as the function of managing and submitting an application to change the data. And the combination with the electronic border management database will turn it into a very strong, effective migration management tool.

Arpine Sargsyan emphasized citizen-centered approaches in the context of public services providing registration. In particular, she presented the work on the digitization of driver's licenses and vehicles, processes related to their registration, emphasizing that the driver's license and registration certificate have been digitized and there is no longer a need to physically keep the documents if the driving license is valid. The car.mia.gov.am platform was presented, which was awarded the "Innovative Project" award, through which the number of transactions made on digital platforms amounted to about 600.

In response to the Prime Minister’s question, the Minister explained that everyone can log in to their account and see their digital driver’s license. “Registration certificates are also digitalized. If, for example, a patrolman used to fine someone for not having a plastic card of a physical driver’s license, now no administration is done; it is checked whether they have a driver’s license or not. We no longer need a physical version of a driver’s license,” said Arpine Sargsyan, adding that a person will need a physical version only when they are outside Armenia; the digital version is sufficient for domestic procedures.

The logic of the 112 operational control center to be launched in February was presented, emphasizing that the new module will unite the Police Operational Control Center (1-02) and the National Crisis Management Center of the Rescue Service (9-11), with the prospect of unifying the service of ambulance (1-03) calls in the second phase at the beginning of 2027. The Prime Minister inquired about the activities of the call center operating at the number 84-22, to which Minister Sargsyan noted that it is the Migration and Civil Service Call Center. “Employees receive the call through the system, it is fully traceable: when we answered, when we established feedback,” the Minister noted, adding that this same logic will be piloted in the Police and other parts of the Ministry’s public services.

At the same time, Arpine Sargsyan noted that the 102 and 911 services are fully digitalized, and the general digitalization process of 112 will be completed by February 15. Prime Minister Pashinyan, in turn, noted that the whole thing will be united and become a single Operational Management Center, where decisions will be made on which service should deal with which alarm.

Next, the program for digitizing the functions of the Criminal and Community Police was presented. Prime Minister Pashinyan inquired about the digitization process of the Community and Criminal Police. Arpine Sargsyan noted that police officers have numerous papers with names, booklets, etc. on their shelves. “We may have complete data on a person, but when there is a case in real time, we do not know that person in all his details: is the person registered as having a mental health problem, does he have problems with alcoholism or not, has he appeared in our field of vision or not, does he have administrative violations, other misdemeanors? The Community Police will now be able to have all this data. This, from our point of view, will be the main system, because the information from the Patrol Service will be added to this, and then the Criminal and Community Police will have to understand what additional work they need to do with the persons," the minister said.

The Prime Minister noted that this will create a common platform where police agencies will have their own access formulas.

According to the Minister, the positive news from an internal departmental point of view is that the process of digitizing the most complex platform, the Community Police, is completely ready, which will also have the ability to use artificial intelligence. “In parallel, we have the Criminal Police component so that criminal police officers can also operate more effectively,” said Arpine Sargsyan, adding that the Patrol Police component is completely digitized.

Special emphasis was placed on increasing the role of the educational component and the upcoming programs to expand the educational complex of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, approaches to human resource management. The participants of the discussion also touched upon the topic of hybrid threats and the role of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the role of public communication was emphasized.

In the context of police development, long-term and permanent solutions were discussed, starting from the legal framework, including at the strategic level. It was noted that the Police Guard, launched on November 1, which is now the guarantor of the effective implementation of the right of citizens to hold peaceful assemblies, is for the first time guided by a standardized procedure for the use of force by police officers. The introduction of uniform standards and the formation of an appropriate culture were described as a complex but necessary process. Special courses have been developed for the special training and periodic retraining of police officers, within the framework of which about 3,000 officers have been trained in total. A negotiation group and a special tactical operations organization regiment have been formed within the Guard, which are complementary and highly specialized units aimed at effectively responding to modern challenges in ensuring public security in crisis and high-risk situations.

The Minister presented a number of indicators that testified to the effectiveness of the decisions made, which related to the work of both the community police, the criminal police, and the patrol service. In particular, 768 kg of various types of drugs were seized in 2025, which is 80 percent more than the previous year's indicator. 2.5 tons of illegally caught fish were seized, 4 groups engaged in large-scale investment fraud were exposed. The number of seized, discovered, and voluntarily surrendered firearms increased by 42.2 percent compared to the previous year. The Criminal Police recorded 0 cases of unsolved murders, which Minister Sargsyan particularly emphasized as a significant indicator in the context of crime prevention. The number of crimes detected by the patrol service was 11,948 in 2024, 14,969 in 2025, and the number of cases of driver's license deprivation by the Police was 5,435. Since the introduction of the patrol service, the number of victims of road accidents has shown a steady decline: in 2024, the number decreased by 45 compared to 2023, and in 2025, by another 50. A high efficiency indicator is also present in the area of administrative offenses: in 2025, the patrol service made about 1 million records, while the average annual figure for the traffic police for 3 years was 300,000.

Referring to the decrease in the number of victims of traffic accidents, the Prime Minister noted: “On the one hand, they say that so many people have been deprived of the right to drive a car, on the other hand, we have a decrease in victims. These two figures should be presented together,” said Nikol Pashinyan.

The Minister of Internal Affairs detailed that in 2023, compared to 2022, an increase in the number of victims of traffic accidents was recorded. However, in 2024, the number of victims decreased by 45 compared to 2023, and in 2025, by 50 compared to 2024. Arpine Sargsyan emphasized that the predominant reason for depriving 5,435 people of their driving licenses was driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Prime Minister emphasized that these figures cannot be unrelated to each other, which is why a lot of negativity is generated around the number of those deprived of driving licenses. "I want to remind you of the atmosphere in the Republic in 2022 and 2023, including in the National Assembly, on social networks, they said that nothing was being done. Now, if these 5,435 people were driving, the number of victims could not have decreased, and these two numbers should be mentioned together," the Prime Minister noted.

Next, Prime Minister Pashinyan inquired about the conclusions we have regarding the substantive part of the reforms implemented in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in particular, in the Police system, "whether we are on the right path."

Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan noted that certain indicators have been identified, which, in her opinion, testify to the effectiveness of the decisions made. “When we talk, for example, about the Criminal Police, we note that 768 kg of various types of drugs were seized in 2025, 426 kg were seized in 2024. Moreover, we are not talking about small quantities. Following your instructions, we have focused on production and import chains. As a result of this, we have a picture of large batches and do not allow the circulation of small quantities in the future. If we also consider the number of seized, voluntarily surrendered firearms, then in 2025 an increase of more than 42 percent was recorded. As a result of the work of the Water Patrol Service, 2.5 tons of illegally caught fish were seized last year, and we should emphasize the prevention component,” the Minister of Internal Affairs noted. At the same time, she reported that 1/3 of the overall crime structure is the discoveries of the Patrol Service, and if in 2024 that number was 11,695, then in 2025 it is about 15,000 cases.

According to Arpine Sargsyan, a positive change in the activities of the Police Guard is also observed. "Now we have pedestrian patrols of the Police Guard, who roam the yards, various squares, parks, we have cases of detection of drugs, cold weapons. The Police Guard should not perceive itself as ensuring public order only during the period of gatherings, they are police officers and in any free time they should be engaged in the implementation of the tasks set for the police officer. We have 146 cases, which were revealed by the Police Guard officers within 2 months," the Minister of Internal Affairs summarized.

The statistics of border crossings were also noteworthy in numerical terms. Sector officials explained that with the exception of 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, 2025 is the first time that the difference between entries and exits by Armenian citizens is positive, and a fairly high figure of 8,660. This was presented as a real change in trends, since the overall balance of border crossings is also exceptional, about +30,500, which means that there is a new migration situation in the Republic of Armenia: Armenia has turned from a transit country into an entry destination.

Legislative, institutional and technical reforms were also presented in the field of disaster risk management, including the approved concept for the development of the Rescue Service, which includes the formation of a new and optimal structural model aimed at increasing the efficiency of service management, speed of response and targeted use of resources. The opening of the modular building of the Stepanavan branch of the Rescue Service, the construction of the Sevan water rescue station, the Yeghegnadzor fire and rescue squad building were presented, and new vehicles and new uniforms were purchased.