{"id":6200,"date":"2025-08-08T10:29:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T07:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/?p=6200"},"modified":"2025-08-08T10:36:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T07:36:36","slug":"o-svjazjah-jeks-prezidenta-armenii-levona-ter-petrosjana-so-specsluzhbami-ssha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/2025\/08\/08\/o-svjazjah-jeks-prezidenta-armenii-levona-ter-petrosjana-so-specsluzhbami-ssha\/","title":{"rendered":"On Former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan\u2019s Alleged Ties to U.S. Security Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Public Tribunal has republished an article titled \u201cClosely Watched Democrat President\u201d<\/a> by Levon Melikyan (Ghazaryan), originally dated October 24, 2009. In it, the author seeks to shed light on the more opaque aspects of the personality and biography of Armenia\u2019s first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CLOSELY WATCHED DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A sensational article was published in the Golos Armenii newspaper (Issue No. 97, September 12, 2009), in which a former employee of Armenia\u2019s special services - a direct participant and eyewitness to events, identified only as M.A. \u2013 tells that former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan had ties with U.S. intelligence agencies. In most countries, such an article would have triggered a storm of reactions - ranging from public denials to criminal investigations initiated by the Prosecutor\u2019s Office. But not in Armenia. A month has passed, and the reaction? Silence. Nothing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that the public was so deeply shocked by the revelations that they were left speechless. A more likely explanation might be that the information was already widely known and, therefore, not perceived as a sensation. Yet this too doesn\u2019t hold up under scrutiny. There is a significant difference between scattered assumptions, rumors, or hearsay from questionable sources and documentary testimony from a well-informed witness.\nClearly, a different mechanism is at play here.\nWhat is evident, however, is that the typically sensation-hungry press affiliated with the Armenian Pan-National Movement (APNM) - and coordinated from a centralized source - received clear instructions to stay silent this time. This may well be because Levon Ter-Petrosyan has nothing to say in response, nothing to deny, nothing to refute. His only remaining tactic is to ignore the accusations altogether\u2026 in the hope that, in time, they too will be forgotten.<\/p>\n

Perhaps these hopes are not entirely unfounded. Levon Ter-Petrosyan knows better than anyone that he can count on the public\u2019s puzzling tolerance toward the murky and obscure aspects of his biography and personality \u2014 to say nothing of his more apparent transgressions. It is precisely this tolerance that has allowed him to remain a political figure to this day.<\/p>\n

And yet, close scrutiny of L.T.P. is long overdue - if only because, by studying and understanding his personality and biography (and not only his, of course), we might finally begin to make sense of what happened in and to our country twenty years ago, what has unfolded over the past two decades, what is happening today, and what may yet come. Indeed, Levon Ter-Petrosyan is just one of the many factors that must be examined. But let us agree - he is a significant one, and his relevance remains undiminished.<\/p>\n

The events described by M.A. took place during Levon Ter-Petrosyan\u2019s presidency, specifically in the spring of 1992, when, according to the account, he was recruited by U.S. intelligence services, who, as we now have reason to believe, have been managing him ever since. This well-substantiated claim does not exclude the possibility that his cooperation with foreign intelligence may have begun even earlier. Both direct and indirect evidence of this exists in open sources.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly interesting is that during that same period, some press reports emerged alleging that L.T.P. had previously collaborated with the Soviet KGB - a charge which, in hindsight, now seems the lesser of two evils. Yet in 1992, amid the anti-Soviet fervor of the time, such accusations could have ended any political career \u2014 except his.<\/p>\n

A brief reminder of an episode that, perhaps not coincidentally, aligned with the beginning of Levon Ter-Petrosyan\u2019s and Armenia\u2019s foreign policy establishment\u2019s growing engagement with Turkey (as confirmed by recent statements from former Armenian foreign ministers). On June 29, 1992, for the first time \u2014 and publicly, on national television \u2014 L.T.P. launched an attack against the ARF Dashnaktsutyun. Alongside blatant falsehoods, he accused the party of having ties with the KGB. In response, party leaders, the late Hrayr Marukhyan and Hrach Tasnapetyan, admitted to having held meetings with certain Soviet officials (who, naturally, could not have operated without links to the KGB). In retaliation, Azatamart Weekly \u2014 the official publication of the ARFD Bureau, printed in both Armenian and Russian in Yerevan \u2014 began publishing documents proving L.T.P.\u2019s own cooperation with the KGB. These were accompanied by commentary from Dr. Eduard Hovhannisyan, Director of the Institute of Armenian Issues in Munich. That rich and telling story, with all its documents and details, certainly deserves to be retold in full \u2014 but for now, we will limit ourselves to two key excerpts.<\/p>\n

In the article \u201cWe Will No Longer Stay Silent,\u201d Ed. Hovhannisyan wrote: \u201cLevon Hakobi Ter-Petrosyan, a KGB agent with personal number \u0416-385292, entered the ranks of that powerful organization on May 29, 1977. A fellow agent - known by the alias \u2018Kazbek\u2019 - who was familiar with the future president as a colleague, described him as an open-minded, loyal individual with strong knowledge, well-liked by the staff. Based on Kazbek\u2019s report, in October 1977, the chief officer of the 1st Department of the KGB in Armenia, M. Hakobyan, submitted the following communication to the KGB leadership: \n\u2018To submit Ter-Petrosyan\u2019s file for consideration by the Directorate of Counterintelligence of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Krasnodar Region, for enlistment into the special staff of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.\u2019\nThe head of the 1st Department of the KGB in Armenia, U. Haroutunyan, approved the request with the resolution: \u2018Approve.\u2019 That same year, 1977, Levon Ter-Petrosyan became an officer in the KGB\u2019s special units.\u201d<\/p>\n

A photocopy of the narrative certificate dated October 27, 1981, was published in the article, along with the following resolution: \u201cTo keep Reserve Lieutenant L.T.P. in the special reserve of the USSR KGB\u201d (Azatamart, No. 10, July 14\u201320, 1992).<\/p>\n

The first article was expected to be followed by several others, but this never happened - mainly due to mass appeals from Diaspora-based Dashnaks urging \u201cnot to embarrass the country.\u201d On the other hand, numerous materials and interviews appeared in semi-official media, allegedly refuting the ARFD\u2019s information. One of the main arguments cited by L.T.P.\u2019s supporters was a relatively fair point that almost all graduates of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Yerevan State University had automatically come under the KGB\u2019s radar. However, an obvious fact was somehow overlooked: L.T.P. graduated from YSU in 1968, but was reportedly recruited by a KGB agent only in 1977. It is worth recalling that Oleg Kalugin, a KGB General later denounced for high treason, was involved in L.T.P.\u2019s case as \u201ca consultant.\u201d However, setting aside the details, let us now present Eduard Hovhannisyan\u2019s \u201cOpen Letter to the Armenian President,\u201d published in Azatamart Weekly, Issue No. 14, August 11\u201317, 1992.<\/p>\n

The letter was unusual and, in our view, contained many controversial points, but the following passage is worth noting:\n\u201c\u2026We are all sullied - some through indifference, some by the KGB, some by publishing fake scientific papers, some by the party, some through bribery, and some by direct denunciations,\u201d wrote Ed. Hovhannisyan to the President of Armenia, L. Ter-Petrosyan. \u201cYou could not have avoided being sullied. Such was the system. There is no point in trying to justify yourself now by claiming you had no idea, or that all orientalists were doomed to the same fate, because that is not entirely true. The KGB reports state that you courageously exploded bombs and mines and were awarded for your actions. You knew perfectly well where you were serving and officially declared your willingness to serve the Motherland through the KGB. None of this constitutes a crime, however, because such were the times.<\/p>\n

Your crime is far more serious, because it was committed knowingly, not out of necessity. Yet the roots of this crime lie not in Armenia, nor within your immediate circle...<\/p>\n

All true and natural values are spiritual in nature - like the nation itself, which is nothing more than our historical and spiritual bond.\nJust as the Decembrists, enamored with Europe under the influence of the Masons and Peter the Great\u2019s \u2018window to the West,\u2019 brought ruinous ideas to Russia, you, Mr. President, with the help of those same Masons, are now attempting to Americanize Armenia - an effort that will have devastating consequences for our homeland.<\/p>\n

That is why you despise the ARF Dashnaktsutyun...\u201d<\/p>\n

This old but still relevant story can perhaps be concluded with excerpts from the interview given by the aforementioned KGB General Oleg Kalugin, published in Azatamart Weekly, Issue No. 25, dated July 13\u201319, 1993.\nKalugin\u2019s response to the main question in the interview was unequivocal: \u201cIt is absurd to speak of Dashnaktsutyun as some kind of weapon or tool of the KGB. Every political party, especially one as strong and influential as Dashnaktsutyun, had its own reasons for cooperating with the KGB, all while pursuing its own objectives.\u201d\nHowever, the interview also addressed a different angle.\nJournalist Hmayak Hovhannisyan asked the former KGB general the following:\u201c\u2026Some public figures in Armenia claim that the KGB may have influenced members of the Karabakh Committee as well. In particular, they point to the protective measures taken by Vladimir Kryuchkov, the future member of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), for the Democrat-President at the time. Kryuchkov reportedly provided him with an armored vehicle for his safety, even though there was no obligation to do so. This occurred just before the 1991 Soviet coup d\u2019\u00e9tat attempt.\u201d\nIn response, Kalugin admitted:\u201cThe KGB always tried to manipulate parties, movements, individuals. Prison is a very convenient place for that kind of work\u2026 However, I lack the specific information to confirm or deny the version you\u2019ve presented.\u201d\nThe interviewer pressed on:\n\u201cFor example, Armenia\u2019s Prosecutor in 1990, Vladimir Nazaryan, claimed in his publications that there was a concerted effort at the time to find leaders who could ultimately \u2018neutralize\u2019 the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh\u2019s unification with Armenia. It\u2019s said that Gorbachev directly asked Armenia\u2019s communist leaders whether they were capable of doing so. When they refused, Gorbachev reportedly replied that he would find others who could handle the situation\u2026\u201d\nOne cannot overlook Hmayak Hovhannisyan\u2019s tendency to glorify the image of the \"communist leaders of the time,\" although Vladimir Nazaryan likely knew exactly what he was talking about. According to the memoirs of one of the initiators of the Karabakh Movement, Vache Sarukhanyan, Karen Demirchyan held a phone conversation with Mikhail Gorbachev on February 25, 1988. During the call, Gorbachev asked: \u201cAre those guys from the Karabakh Committee really that capable?\u201d\n\u201cNo, Mikhail Sergeyevich,\u201d Demirchyan replied, \u201cbut there are a couple of guys here whose nationalist ideas are having a strong influence on the public.\u201d\nHe then named Igor Muradyan and Vache Sarukhanyan.\n\nGorbachev responded:\u201cWell, Mr. Kharchenko from the Central Committee\u2019s Chief Ideological Department will be sent to help you change the leadership and suppress anti-Soviet sentiment.\u201d\nAfter some time, the Karabakh Committee was reorganized into the notorious second Karabakh Committee, initially led by Vazgen Manukyan and later by Levon Ter-Petrosyan (Hayots Ashkharh newspaper, March 27, 1998). These memoirs were published during Karen Demirchyan\u2019s lifetime. Moreover, the author directly appealed to Demirchyan, urging him to refute the statement, if it was inaccurate. Unsurprisingly, the appeal remained unanswered.\nIt is also worth noting that, according to public rumors, there were four KGB agents within the Committee, and one of them was allegedly Levon Ter-Petrosyan - the younger brother of Telman Ter-Petrosyan, Karen Demirchyan\u2019s close associate, who, as we can now state with confidence, was well known to the KGB.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps that strange arrest, which occurred amid the devastating earthquake in Armenia \u2014 an event that shifted public attention away from the orators in the Square \u2014 and their subsequent heroization, was in fact the very method used to create the kind of leaders Gorbachev needed in Armenia. Considering the methods and style of KGB operations, how logical does this version seem?\u201d Hmayak Hovhannisyan insisted. \nKalugin replied: \u201cIt seems quite logical.\u201d
\nWe have recalled these long-forgotten quotes to show just how na\u00efve our perceptions of L.T.P. and his circle once were. Meanwhile, according to reliable information published by Golos Armenii, the President of Armenia had already become a tool in the hands of American intelligence. It would be even more na\u00efve to assume that foreign intelligence services only recruited him after he was elected president.<\/p>\n

Of course, we still lack direct evidence, and perhaps we won\u2019t obtain any in the near future. Nevertheless, a broader picture begins to emerge when we piece together testimonies from various sources - for example, statements by Kh. Stamboltsyan and others regarding Zh. Libaridian\u2019s and L.T.P.\u2019s ties with the Masons; information published by Golos Armenii years ago about a former KGB colonel persecuted by L.T.P. who is now his close associate; the visits paid by members of the Karabakh Committee to \u201ccertain districts in Paris\u201d following their release; and many other such accounts.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as far as we know, no one in Armenia is systematically collecting and analyzing this kind of information. We do not want to know - or are unwilling to face - the truth about our recent past, which is, in fact, the truth about our present and future. This is deeply unnatural. We must acknowledge that this indifference and lack of reaction stem from a troubling reality: the forces that once controlled L.T.P. continue to exert influence over a portion of our people.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

«\u0413\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0441 \u0410\u0440\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438\u00bb (N97, 12 \u0441\u0435\u043d\u0442\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f 2009 \u0433\u043e\u0434\u0430) \u043e\u043f\u0443\u0431\u043b\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043b \u0441\u0435\u043d\u0441\u0430\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043c\u0430\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0438\u0430\u043b: \u0431\u044b\u0432\u0448\u0438\u0439 \u0441\u043e\u0442\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u0438\u043a \u0441\u043f\u0435\u0446\u0441\u043b\u0443\u0436\u0431 \u0410\u0440\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438, \u0441\u0432\u0438\u0434\u0435\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c \u0438 \u0443\u0447\u0430\u0441\u0442\u043d\u0438\u043a \u0441\u043e\u0431\u044b\u0442\u0438\u0439 \u041c.\u0410. \u0440\u0430\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430\u043b \u043e \u0441\u0432\u044f\u0437\u044f\u0445 \u044d\u043a\u0441-\u043f\u0440\u0435\u0437\u0438\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0430 \u0410\u0440\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438 \u041b\u0435\u0432\u043e\u043d\u0430 \u0422\u0435\u0440-\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0441\u044f\u043d\u0430 \u0441\u043e \u0441\u043f\u0435\u0446\u0441\u043b\u0443\u0436\u0431\u0430\u043c\u0438 \u0421\u0428\u0410. \u0412 \u043b\u044e\u0431\u043e\u0439 \u0434\u0440\u0443\u0433\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u044f\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u043f\u043e\u0434\u043e\u0431\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043c\u0430\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0438\u0430\u043b\u0430 \u0432\u044b\u0437\u0432\u0430\u043b\u043e \u0431\u044b \u0431\u0443\u0440\u043d\u0443\u044e \u0440\u0435\u0430\u043a\u0446\u0438\u044e: \u043e\u0442 \u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0436\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u0434\u043e \u0441\u043e\u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u043f\u0440\u043e\u043a\u0443\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443\u0440\u044b \u043e \u0432\u043e\u0437\u0431\u0443\u0436\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438 \u0443\u0433\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430. \u0412 \u043b\u044e\u0431\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0435, \u043d\u043e \u043d\u0435 \u0432 \u0410\u0440\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0438.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-materialy-tribunala","category-process"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6200"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6205,"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200\/revisions\/6205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/armtribunal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}