The Armenian Border Guard () is the branch of the National Security Service of Armenia that is responsible for monitoring and guarding

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

's borders with neighbors

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The border guard works in conjunction with a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

military contingent from the

Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation �СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterin ...

stationed in Armenia and headquartered at the 102nd Military Base in

Gyumri Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

History

The border guard was initially subordinated to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

when it was established on 28 January 1992 with the rest of the military. On 26 April 1994, the draft Law "On the State Border" was introduced by the

National Assembly of Armenia The National Assembly of Armenia (, ''Hayastani Hanrapetyut'yan Azgayin zhoghov'' or simply Ազգային ժողով, ԱԺ, ''Azgayin Zhoghov'', ''AZh''), also informally referred to as the Parliament of Armenia (խորհրդարան, ''khor ...

. Its charter was signed into law on 20 November 2001. In 2004 it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Security and Internal Affairs. The first general meeting of the Union of Veterans and Pensioners of the Border Guard Troops took place in late 2019.

Mechanized equipment

As of 2022, the Ministry of National Security and Internal Affairs has its disposal 15 BMD-1s, 35

BMP-1 The BMP-1 is a Soviet Union, Soviet Amphibious vehicle, amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle that has been in service from 1966 to the present. BMP stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty 1'' (), meaning "infantry fighting vehicle, 1st ...

s, 10 BRM-1Ks, 12

BTR-60 The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet Union, Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR (vehi ...

s, 20

BTR-70 The BTR-70 is an eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier () originally developed by the Soviet Union during the late 1960s under the manufacturing code GAZ-4905. On August 21, 1972, it was accepted into Soviet service and would later be widely exp ...

s and UAV.

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...

, ''The Military Balance 2022''. London: Routledge, 2022, p. 182.

Leadership

Commanders

* General

Yuri Khatchaturov Yuri Grigorii Khachaturov (; born 1 May 1952) is an Armenian general. He formerly served as the Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia (2008–2016 ...

(1992-2000) * Major General Armen Abrahamyan (November 2005-12 June 2018) * Colonel General Vaghinak Sargsyan (12 June 2018 – 26 October 2020) * Colonel Arman Maralchyan (since 26 October 2020)

Chief of Staff of the Border Guard

* Gagik Tevosyan (?-26 October 2020) * Colonel Arman Gasparyan (since 26 October 2020)

Notes

{{Border protection agencies Border guards

Border Guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...