He left the office after the Velvet Revolution led by opposition politician Nikol Pashinyan, who became Armenia's new prime minister.

[7] Sargsyan holds an Executive MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is an Honorary Professor of the North-West Academy of Public Administration.

After finishing military service in 2003, Sargsyan served as an Assistant to the President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, with portfolio in foreign and national security policy, as well as diaspora affairs.

Vigen Sargsyan has regularly expressed his confidence that the conflict shall be resolved based on compromises, but only when the right of people of Artsakh for self-determination is acknowledged and its execution is internationally guaranteed.

[11] Sargsyan announced that his efforts as Defence Minister would be aimed at building the "nation-army" concept, which he described as the idea of assuring full democratic control over military in a country, where the Armed Forces are unproportionally big compared to the size of population.

In March 2018, the Ministry of Defense published a document titled the "Seven Year Army Modernization Plan", which envisaged a number of reforms in the sphere of defence.

In 2004 Vigen Sargsyan coordinated the first major Armenian Diaspora cultural festival in Yerevan, Armenia, attended by 2,000 participants from over 35 countries.

Hundreds of events in multiple cities and towns in Russia and Armenia allowed for cultural and educational exchanges, publications, and exhibitions.

At initiative of Vigen Sargsyan the famous “musical fountains” at the central square of Yerevan were fully renovated and relaunched after years of abandonment.

The fountain was relaunched on Independence Day, 21 September 2007, with a live concert featuring music of Aram Khachaturian and Bolero of Ravel.

Since 2008, Sargsyan chaired the Educational Committee of the "Luys" Foundation, which established generous scholarships for students from Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, admitted to top 10 universities globally.

Between 2008 and 2018 over 500 scholars received up to 50% in tuition and fees of their education at bachelor's and master's level as well as post-graduate studies at top ranking universities.

Under Sargsyan’s coordination the State Committee applied for and received appointment by UNESCO for Yerevan to serve as the 12th World Book Capital in 2012.

As part of the events, a major reconstruction of the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Ancient Manuscripts was initiated, and a new building was constructed to host new exhibition halls, research, and state of art storage facilities.

In 2016 Vigen Sargsyan coordinated the State Visit of Pope Francis to Armenia, which was entitled “Pilgrimage to the First Christian Nation.” During major ecumenic events in Yerevan, Gyumri and Etchmiadzin, Pope Francis acknowledged major contribution of Armenians to the Christian heritage and learning, as well as referred to the crime of genocide, committed against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

He has described the authorities' stance on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and matters of domestic and international politics as amateur and opportunistic, and warned that they will inevitably lead to a new war and dire consequences for the country.

[27] On 25 September 2019, the Investigative Committee of Armenia announced that there might be sufficient grounds to indict Sargsyan, only to drop the claims weeks later.

[23][28] It was alleged that Sargsyan violated regulations for the allotment of state-funded housing while serving as defence minister, but the prosecutor overseeing the case returned it to the Investigative Committee as lacking grounds.

[23] In November 2020, after the defeat of the Armenian side in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Sargsyan joined a number of other public figures calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

[30] In February 2023, Sargsyan was charged in connection with the aforementioned case of alleged violations in the process of distribution of government-funded housing to Armenian army officers.

Sargsian claims that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration ordered his “political persecution” to keep him from returning to Armenia.