RA deputy minister of defense rules out bringing up Armenia`s defense  budget to that of Azerbaijan 

ArmInfo.  The volume of work in the defense sector carried out this year will continue next year. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Hrachya Sargsyan on September 5 in an interview with  journalists in the National Assembly.

"We will implement what is approved and planned in the medium-term  expenditure programs, we will make the same expenditures," he said.

At the same time, the Deputy Minister admitted that at the moment he  is not aware of whether the allocations for the needs of the Ministry  of Defense of Armenia will be reduced by the 2026 budget.

"The budget will be approved by the National Assembly in December. I  think everything will be determined then.

If your question is that our Defense Ministry will not acquire  various means to carry out its functions or will acquire less, then I  assure you that in 2026 the Defense Ministry will work within the  same logic as in 2024, 2025," Sargsyan said.

Commenting on concerns that Azerbaijan is intensively arming itself,  while the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the Minister  of Finance noted the absence of a significant increase in defense  spending, the Deputy Minister noted: "The military budget of  Azerbaijan has exceeded the budget of the Republic of Armenia several  times over the past 30 years. If your concern is that we should  increase our defense budget to the Azerbaijani one, this will not  happen."

In any case, the increase in allocations will depend on the ability  of the state treasury to cover these expenses, the Defense Ministry  representative concluded.

Earlier, Armenian Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan said that,  against the backdrop 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. At the same  time, it was unclear whether this was a reduction in absolute amounts  or only a reduction in the share in the budget structure while  maintaining the current level of spending.

The next day, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, commenting on the  statement of the head of the Ministry of Finance, noted that Armenia  does not intend to increase the military budget in 2026. "Perhaps  there will be no significant increase in spending or an increase in  defense spending in the 2026 budget at all. I think this is logical,  at least this is our assessment at the moment," Pashinyan said.

On the same day, Azerbaijani President Ilzham Aliyev said that the  country is building up its military power to ensure security, but  does not want war. "We must be ready for war at any moment, because  the course of processes in the world is such that it is impossible to  predict what will happen tomorrow," he said. According to the  president, after the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020, the  country has improved its armed forces - the number of special forces  was increased by thousands of fighters. In addition, the country has  acquired new UAVs and artillery systems, and signed contracts for the  purchase of new combat aircraft.

According to the state budget of Armenia for 2025, defense spending  is planned at 6.1% of GDP (664.6 billion drams - more than $ 1.7  billion), which is 20% higher than the 2024 figure. Armenia has  almost doubled its defense spending compared to 2020-2021, when the  budget was about 312 billion drams.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's military budget has already reached $ 5  billion in 2025