Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia has acquired a large volume of modern weapons and military equipment in recent years only because such purchases were previously impossible.
In his congratulatory message marking the 34th anniversary of the formation of the Armenian Armed Forces, Pashinyan said the newly acquired systems are of a quality and technical standard the Armenian army has never possessed before, noting that significant financial resources were spent because the equipment is both expensive and high-quality.
He stressed, however, that a key question must be addressed: why similar acquisitions were not made in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, or 2022. According to Pashinyan, Armenia’s international partners had long refused to sell weapons due to concerns that the arms could be used outside Armenia’s internationally recognized territory and that sensitive technical parameters could become accessible to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), of which Armenia was a member at the time.
Pashinyan said that by September 2022, CSTO member states were themselves refusing to fulfill contractual obligations to ensure Armenia’s security and territorial integrity, including the delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons and military equipment already paid for by Armenia, an outcome he described as an existential threat to Armenian statehood. He said the danger was overcome following two decisive developments: a political agreement reached in Prague on October 6, 2022, in which Armenia and Azerbaijan recognized each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, and Armenia’s decision to freeze its membership in the CSTO.
The Pashinyan government has long criticized the CSTO for its “failure to respond to the security challenges” facing Armenia. In February 2024, Pashinyan said in an interview with France 24 that Armenia froze its membership in the Russian-led bloc after Moscow began openly calling on Armenian citizens to overthrow his government, adding that the deluge of propaganda targeting him “has never stopped.”
Armenian authorities have also accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in 2020 of failing to prevent Azerbaijan’s lightning offensive in September 2023, which resulted in Baku regaining control over the breakaway region that had been under ethnic Armenian control for nearly three decades.
In July 2024, Pashinyan said it was now more likely that Armenia would leave the CSTO altogether rather than maintain its suspended membership. Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan, he said that “it is more likely that we will leave the CSTO than freeze our membership.”
The CSTO, established in 2002, is a Russia-led military bloc based on a treaty signed in 1992 by several post-Soviet countries, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, and has been widely criticized for its perceived ineffectiveness in responding to regional security crises not aligned with Moscow’s interests.
In the same message marking the anniversary of the armed forces, Pashinyan continued to highlight the achievements of recent military reforms.
He singled out the “Defender of the Fatherland” program, which he said has allowed thousands of conscripts to transition into contract service, receive high salaries through voluntary certification, and live at home while serving.
Pashinyan said many 19-year-old servicemen now earn monthly salaries of 500,000–600,000 drams and expressed confidence that a significant number of them would continue their military careers, including by obtaining officer education and serving as officers.
He also noted that the term of compulsory military service had been reduced from 24 to 18 months, a move he said substantially improved service conditions. Large-scale fortification works are being carried out along Armenia’s borders, which he described as a key addition to the country’s defense system.
While saying the format of his address did not allow for further detail, Pashinyan described the reforms implemented in recent years as a cornerstone for Armenia’s sustainability, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of its borders.
At the same time, he stressed that Armenia is not preparing for war, saying that peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan and calling peace the most reliable guarantee of security. He added that the government intends to further strengthen that guarantee.
