Armenia will shorten the term of mandatory military service from two years to one and a half years beginning January 1, 2026, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced in a Facebook livestream on October 21. The reform comes just months before the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 2026.
“It was initially planned that this regulation would take effect from the summer conscription of 2026. However, following discussions with the Minister of Defense and our parliamentary colleagues, we decided to bring the effective date forward, starting from January 1, 2026,” Pashinyan said in the video statement. “This means that, starting with the winter draft of 2026, mandatory military service in Armenia will be one and a half years instead of two years. To all our troops, thank you for your service.”
In September, the Defense Ministry submitted a draft law for public discussion proposing to shorten mandatory military service from two years to 18 months. The proposal was published on the e-draft.am platform. Defense Minister Suren Papikyan had earlier introduced the legislation to parliament.
According to the justification of the draft, the initiative stems from the Armenian government’s 2021–2026 program, which envisions reducing the length of mandatory military service through the expansion of professional military roles and incentives for voluntary enlistment.
The reduction in service duration is planned to be achieved through the expansion of contractual (professional) military service. In recent years, active steps have been taken to broaden contractual service, including the introduction of the “Defender of the Homeland” program, the establishment of a professional sergeant corps, the implementation of a soldier certification system, and the organization of long-term contractual service in border military units while preserving military pensions.
The results of these measures have been assessed positively by the ministry and are seen as contributing to making contractual military service more attractive and expanding its scope.
Although the change was initially set to take effect in the summer of 2026, Pashinyan decided the regulation should come into force earlier, in January, and chose to announce it personally on social media. Critics argue that the timing of the decision is politically motivated and aimed at winning public support ahead of the parliamentary elections in June 2026.
