Kristinne Grigoryan (

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

: Քրիստինե Գրիգորյան, born August 27, 1981) is an Armenian

human rights lawyer International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

and

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a member of the intelligence field employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a r ...

who serves as head of the Armenian Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS). She previously served as Deputy Minister of Justice and as the country's

Human Rights Defender A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

Biography

Kristinne Grigoryan was born on August 27, 1981, in the town of Sevan,

Gegharkunik Province Gegharkunik (, ) is a provinces of Armenia, province (''Administrative divisions of Armenia, marz'') of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is Gavar. Gegharkunik is inhabited by approximately 209,669 people and the majority are ethnic Armenian ...

, growing up during the final years of the

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1998, she entered

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; , , ), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919, it is the largest university in the country. It is thus informally known as Armenia's ...

, graduating with her bachelor's degree in

Arab Studies Arab studies or Arabic studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Arabs and Arab World. It consists of several disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics, historiography, archaeology, cultural studies, economics, geog ...

in 2002, and a master's degree in the same subject area in 2006. In 2008, she graduated from the law school of Northern University in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

Career

From 2004 at the completion of her undergraduate studies through 2009, Grigoryan worked as a legislative staffer in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

(NA) of Armenia in the Department of Legislative Analysis and Development. From March to October 2009, she was a translator-lawyer for the Assembly's Department of External Relations. Between 2009 and 2011, Grigoryan moved to serve as a Legal Aide to the Chief of Staff of the National Assembly. An aide to a member of parliament (2011–2014) and an Assistant to the NA Chairman on legal affairs (2012–2014), she led a team as part of the

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

-funded program "Support to the Development of Institutional Capacities of the National Assembly of Armenia" between 2014 and 2015. From 2015 to 2018, Grigoryan headed the Department of International Legal Cooperation at the staff of the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. After the

2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution The 2018 Armenian Revolution, most commonly known in Armenia as #MerzhirSerzhin (, meaning "#RejectSerzh"), was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and civil groups led by a member ...

, she served as an advisor to

Ararat Mirzoyan Ararat Samveli Mirzoyan (; born 23 November 1979) is an Armenian politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. Before this, he served as President of the National Assembly of Armenia from January 2019 to August 20 ...

, the First Deputy Prime Minister at the time. On 3 July 2018, Grigoryan was appointed a Deputy Minister of Justice by the prime minister. On 24 January 2022, the National Assembly elected her as the

Human Rights Defender of Armenia The Human Rights Defender of Armenia () is the official ombudsman, who, acting pursuant to the Constitution of Armenia, as well as, principles and norms of international law, protects the human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals. T ...

. She stepped down from office on 23 January 2023, citing promotion to a new office as the reason behind her decision.

Intelligence career

On 4 October 2023, Kristinne Grigoryan was publicly appointed the first chief of Armenia's civilian-led Foreign Intelligence Service by Prime Minister

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan (born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician who is serving as the 16th and current Prime Minister of Armenia, prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in ...

. Grigoryan is widely rumored to have received training in leadership and

tradecraft Tradecraft, within the intelligence community, refers to the techniques, methods, and technologies used in modern espionage (spying) and generally as part of the activity of intelligence assessment. This includes general topics or techniques ...

the West West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

prior to taking office, reportedly with the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

and/or British

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

. Senior officials from both services including the heads of the respective agencies, Bill Burns and Richard Moore, visited Yerevan repeatedly around the time of the agency's 2022 establishment. Burns and his deputy David S. Cohen since visited again in 2024, and Moore met privately with Prime Minister Pashinyan at the

Munich Security Conference The Munich Security Conference (MSC), formerly Munich Conference on Security Policy, is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Germany, since 1963. Over the past four decades the Munich Security Con ...

in 2023.

Personal life

Grigoryan is nonpartisan member of the civil service. She is a skilled linguist, speaking six languages:

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 ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. She is unmarried.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grigoryan, Kristinne Armenian lawyers 1981 births Living people People from Gegharkunik Province