In parliament, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan addressed why Armenia’s 2026 defense spending is projected to be lower than in 2025.
He emphasized that defense expenditures have significantly increased since 2023, with unprecedented budgets implemented or planned for 2023, 2024, 2025, and now 2026, as reported by 1lurer.am .
According to Papikyan, these exceptional budgets have covered the army’s needs, service members’ social conditions, weapons and military equipment acquisitions, and engineering efforts. He credited these efforts to the substantial funding allocated by the government.
He acknowledged that at first glance, there appears to be a budgetary imbalance between 2025 and 2026, but explained that a proper balance exists when comparing the 2024 and 2026 figures, showing a steady and “quite normal” growth between 2023, 2024, and 2026.
“The real imbalance occurred in 2025, in favor of the Ministry of Defense, because, given the regional developments at the time, we opted to bring forward some future expenditures into 2025. The perceived gap is not abnormal. It’s a logical move by a responsible government,” Papikyan clarified.
