Whatever the army needs, we receive the respective financial resources from the state. Deputy Minister of Defense Hrachya Sargsyan told this to reporters in the National Assembly Friday—and referring to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that Armenia’s defense spending will not increase next year, since peace has been established with Azerbaijan.

“There is no ‘saving,’ as such, at the expense of defense spending. I’m not in charge of that. Yes, there are other expenses, too: we have health care, we have a social sphere. I understand that there is a security issue, but all of that needs to be balanced, and I assume that it is balancing. But I’m not in charge of that,” Sargsyan said.

“The financial resources that the Ministry of Defense receives are sufficient for us to carry out our work. Of course, there is no country that reaches a certain point and says that ‘I will not spend anymore.’ There is always a place where it can spend more and become stronger,” noted the deputy minister of defense of Armenia.