YEREVAN. –  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday visited the General Department of the Police Troops, on the 27th anniversary of the Police Troops of Armenia.

“For virtually a year now, the troops of the Police of the Republic of Armenia carry out combat duty on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, (...) providing tangible and important assistance to the army of the Republic of Armenia,” the PM said, in particular, while congratulating the Police Troops on their anniversary. “The decision to engage the Police Troops in the protection of the external borders of the Republic of Armenia reflects our concept for not only external but also internal security of the Republic of Armenia.”

Pashinyan added that Armenian citizens and the Armenian people need to be united and consolidated in the protection of Armenia’s external security. In his words, the concept for Armenia’s internal security is also linked to this because the Police Troops are called to prevent violence within the country.

Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the government of Armenia has the same concept also in terms of the protection of the country’s borders as well as of the security of both Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

“We are for the establishment of lasting and stable peace in our region,” he said, in particular. “But if there will be forces that will attempt to interpret this drive of ours as a manifestation of weakness, all those forces will receive a determined blow, a determined counterblow of our collective will, our collective strength.”

On the occasion of the Police Troops’ Day, Nikol Pashinyan also awarded the Prime Minister’s Commemorative Medal to a group of officers of the Police Troops, for conscientiously carrying out their service.