Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia Hrachya Sargsyan said he does not yet know whether the Ministry of Defense’s allocation will decrease in the 2026 state budget, but stressed that the country’s defense programs will continue at the same level as in previous years.
“We will continue to carry out next year the same amount of work that we are carrying out this year. We are implementing what we have approved and planned in the medium-term programs; we will implement those same expenses,” Sargsyan told reporters.
He noted that the 2026 budget will be finalized and approved by the National Assembly in December, which will clarify the situation. However, he emphasized that “what we have approved with the medium-term spending plan, that same amount will be next year.”
Asked whether Armenia’s defense capacity could weaken while Azerbaijan continues to intensively arm itself, Sargsyan stressed that Baku’s military spending has long exceeded Yerevan’s entire state budget. “If your question is that we increase our entire state budget in such a way that we reach Azerbaijan’s military budget, it will not happen,” he said.
Reassuring the public, the deputy minister insisted that “the MoD will work with the same logic that it has worked in 2024, 2025, also in 2026.”
Responding to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s earlier statement that Armenia’s defense spending will not increase next year since peace has been established with Azerbaijan, Sargsyan said the ministry is provided with the financial resources it needs. “There is no ‘saving,’ as such, at the expense of defense spending. Yes, there are other expenses, too: we have health care, we have a social sphere. I understand that there is a security issue, but all of that needs to be balanced,” he explained.
“The financial resources that the Ministry of Defense receives are sufficient for us to carry out our work,” Sargsyan concluded, while also acknowledging that, as in any country, there is always room for additional spending to strengthen the armed forces.