Major General Grigori Khachaturov has been placed on an interstate wanted list, despite the court’s refusal last week to authorize pretrial detention.
A new criminal case was opened against him on November 25, 2025 under Article 436, Part 1 and Article 549, Part 3 of the Criminal Code, alleging bribery and abuse of authority. The court rejected the investigator’s request for pretrial detention, yet the Prosecutor General’s Office announced today that Khachaturov has already been placed on an interstate wanted list, a step that is entirely inconsistent with the court’s ruling and unsupported by any known procedural basis.
This development does not occur in isolation. Nikol Pashinyan’s government has kept him under scrutiny since 2021, when he publicly called for their resignation after the 2020 Artsakh War. In 2023 he was charged with money laundering and illegal acquisition of property. That case is linked to a broader investigation involving opposition MP Seyran Ohanyan, underscoring its political character and the extent to which such prosecutions serve as retaliation against those who oppose Pashinyan’s rule. The case remains unresolved as of today, with no indication of substantive progress.
Major General Khachaturov is also a figure of considerable prominence. His leadership as commander of the 3rd Army Corps during Azerbaijan’s July 2020 attack on Tavush earned him broad recognition and placed him among the most influential figures willing to challenge the authorities in 2021. In 2024, Khachaturov joined the Sacred Movement led by now political prisoner Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a movement for which 18 people are currently detained. He is the son of Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov, former Chief of the General Staff of Armenia and former Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
The combination of new charges, contradictory procedures, an unresolved prior case, and his history of open political confrontation with Pashinyan creates a situation in which political motivation is not a speculative claim. It is a rational conclusion supported by the sequence of events and the conduct of the state institutions involved, a pattern that has become a defining element of Pashinyan’s governance and his approach to political dissent.
