Amid defense budget cut, RA deputy MOD states reforms to be continues 

ArmInfo. Not a single reform will be suspended. Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Arman Sargsyan stated this in a conversation with journalists at the National Assembly on September 26, commenting on the planned reduction in defense appropriations in 2026. "I can assure you that  all the positive reforms that have begun will not be suspended," the  deputy minister noted.

Andranik Kocharyan, head of the parliamentary committee on defense  and security, assured journalists that during future budget  discussions, "it will be shown that their ideas do not quite  correspond to the logic of the figures."

As a reminder, it was announced yesterday that in 2026, Armenia will  reduce its allocations to the Ministry of Defense by approximately  15.2% - from 664.7 billion drams to 563.1 billion drams  (approximately $1.5 billion). In absolute terms, the reduction will  amount to 101.5 billion drams (approximately $270 million).  As  stated in the address to the draft state budget for next year,  approved at a cabinet meeting on September 25, expenditures on  ensuring Armenia's defense in 2026, in particular, maintaining combat  readiness to ensure the strategic deployment of the Armed Forces,  ensuring the protection of state borders from external enemies, will  amount to 560 billion 98 million drams (approximately $1.46 billion).  Meanwhile, defense spending in the current year's budget is set at  664.7 billion drams (approximately $1.73 billion), which is 20%  higher than defense spending established in the 2024 state budget.

Overall, state treasury spending on defense, security, public order,  and judicial activities will be reduced by 102.2 billion drams  (approximately $265 million) in the coming year. As a result, funding  for these areas will amount to 813.2 billion drams (approximately  $2.12 billion). In 2025, this figure was 915.4 billion drams, and in  2024, 776.9 billion drams. Moreover, Armenia's state budget  expenditures in 2026 will increase by 5% - from 3 trillion 441.6  billion drams, pegged for 2025, to 3 trillion 628 billion drams.

It is noteworthy that Armenian Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan  previously stated that, in light of the initialing of the peace  agreement with Azerbaijan in Washington, the country's authorities  plan to reduce the share of defense spending in the 2026 budget  compared to 2025. This is already included in the draft budget, he  noted. The following day, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced  that Armenia does not intend to increase the military budget in 2026.  "It is possible that there will be no significant increase in  spending or any increase in defense spending in the 2026 budget. I  think this is logical, at least that is our current assessment,"  Pashinyan said.

On the same day, the President of Azerbaijan Ilzham Aliyev stated  that the country is building up its military power to ensure  security, but does not want war (up to $5.12 billion, $90 million  more than in 2025). "We must be prepared for war at any moment,  because the course of events in the world is such that it is  impossible to predict what will happen tomorrow," he said. According  to the president, since the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020,  the country has improved its armed forces - the number of special  forces has been increased by thousands of fighters. Furthermore, the  country has acquired new UAVs and artillery systems and signed  contracts for new combat aircraft.