Armenia’s Foreign Intelligence Chief Travels to Baku for Security Forum
Armenia’s foreign intelligence chief Kristinne Grigoryan traveled to Azerbaijan on Tuesday to attend a major security gathering in Baku, in another rare visit by a senior Armenian security official to the neighboring country.
Grigoryan, director of Armenia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, is taking part in the 4th Baku Security Forum, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s press secretary, Melanya Harutyunyan, confirmed Tuesday.
The Armenian government has not released further details about the visit or said whether Grigoryan will hold separate meetings with Azerbaijani officials. Azerbaijani media reported that she was expected to return to Armenia Tuesday evening.
The forum opened in Baku on Sept. 22 under the theme “New Challenges in the Global Security Architecture and the Formation of Effective Cooperation Mechanisms in the Fight Against Terrorism.”
Organized by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service, the gathering has brought together about 600 delegates from more than 100 countries and international organizations, including intelligence and security chiefs and other senior officials.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in a message to participants, called for closer professional ties and greater information sharing among security agencies, arguing that cooperation built on direct dialogue could help countries respond more effectively to emerging threats.
Grigoryan’s trip comes a year after Armenia’s National Security Service director, Andranik Simonyan, traveled to Baku for the previous edition of the forum in September 2025.
The visits stand out after decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, when direct contacts between senior security officials from the two countries were exceedingly rare.
Grigoryan’s presence in Baku comes as Armenia and Azerbaijan continue efforts to deepen direct contacts and move forward with normalization following recent progress in the peace process.
Neither Yerevan nor Baku has announced bilateral intelligence or security talks during Grigoryan’s visit.
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