YEREVAN. – During this time, there have been many discussions and observations on how much I, as prime minister, trust the National Security Service (NSS), the NSS that also functioned in the days when I was an opposition figure, before that, in the status of a political prisoner. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during today's solemn session dedicated to national security servant’s day.

"Even at that time the NSS, with its understandable nuances of activity, never crossed the ‘red lines’ that could exist in public relations at all," the prime minister said. “Yes, and also for that reason I, as a Prime Minister, trust the NSS because it is also my understanding. The NSS should not be a service fitting in the context of any government’s activity.

This is the number-one mission for this structure. I can say as a Prime Minister, who is 100 percent convinced that his work, with all its subtleties, without any percentage reservation, is in the interests of the RA national security, state and national interests, that this government cannot have any sign of mistrust toward the NSS."

The PM also emphasized that the major task of the government is also to implement reforms in the NSS with more balanced steps in the coming years to make its activities more efficient.

Pashinyan agreed that over time, the NSS may have to make less effort in the fight against corruption. "The NSS should focus on the issues of intelligence, antiterrorism, upholding constitutional order, and ruling out violence."