The Armenian government, in its Cabinet meeting Thursday, approved the measure and the procedure for providing social assistance to cover the living and other expenses of individuals of separate groups forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Presenting the respective program, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan noted as follows, in particular: "Taking into account the monetary trends of the economic integration of displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh since the forced displacement and the start of the state assistance program for housing security, we propose to approve an updated assistance program for the months of January to December 2025, by which we will gradually reduce general assistance during the year, but increase the targeting of assistance—emphasizing special individual target groups."

In response, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the able-bodied persons should be phased out of assistance programs, and recalled his remark that poverty should be overcome only by work.

"But on the other hand, in the case of people with limitations, we should help them to acquire work skills because, sorry, but in the modern world, even a wheelchair-bound person can work and earn quite well," he added.