By Artak Khulian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am) — Interior Minister Arpine Sargsyan downplayed on Thursday a 16 percent increase in armed robberies, shootouts and other firearm-related crimes registered by the Armenian police last year.
Police data released by her shows that the total number of such crimes rose from 94 in 2023 to 109 in 2024. They soared by 40 percent in 2023.
“The 15 more cases may seem a lot, but crimes committed with firearms account for only 0.3 percent of our overall crime statistics,” Sargsyan told a news conference.
The 30-year-old Sargsyan was appointed as interior minister in November just days after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed serious concern about a significant increase in gun violence in Armenia observed during his rule. He ordered law-enforcement authorities to do more to tackle what he called a “very big problem.”
In September, Pashinyan linked the problem to the fact that thousands of weapons given by the Armenian government to citizens during the 2020 war with Azerbaijan remain unaccounted for. Former Interior Minister Vahe Ghazaryan revealed earlier that as many as 17,000 assault rifles “disappeared” during and after the six-week war. Sargsyan declined to say how many crimes were committed with such weapons.