Tigran Abrahamyan, MP from the I Have Honor faction, voiced concern on Facebook over Armenia’s 2026 defense budget, which he says has been reduced by 15–16% compared to 2025, despite increasing security threats.
He noted that officials justify the cut by comparing it to the 2018 budget, saying it’s $1.1 billion higher now. Abrahamyan called this logic misleading.
“That’s not how it works. Why not compare it to 2008, or 1998? Anything to avoid acknowledging the year-on-year drop,” he wrote.
He reminded that in 1998 or 2018, Armenia’s sovereign territory wasn’t occupied, and Artsakh was still Armenian.
He urged the public to also consider the past and current prices of military equipment: “What were the acquisition costs in 2018 or earlier, and what are global prices now? How did the prices Armenia paid for weapons and military gear compare to international rates? And how much free weaponry and spare parts were received?”
Abrahamyan insisted the key issue remains: “Why has the defense budget decreased by 15–16% from last year, roughly 100 billion AMD?”
He warned of the illusion of peace: “Threats are everywhere, the country hasn’t recovered from the postwar damage. But since authorities speak of ‘peacebuilding,’ or as they like to call it, ‘renewal,’ they cut the defense budget, weaken mandatory military service, and try to convince people everything is fine. You did the same in 2018–2020—and we all saw what happened.”
