YEREVAN. – The number one defender of the security of Armenia and Artsakh is the Armed Forces, the army. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during today's consultation on the 2020 budget allocations to the Ministry of Defense.

"In the last 1.5 years, tremendous changes have taken place in the army despite a number of political speculations," he said. “During this time unprecedented volumes of weapons have been acquired in recent years. And I want to emphasize that we need this armament not for war, but for peace because, unfortunately, Armenia must counterbalance with a restraining policy the aggressive policy pursued by a number of countries in the region."

The Prime Minister stressed that he considers it very important that serious steps were taken to improve the conditions of service of the Armed Forces servicemen, and increase social guarantees and make them more effective. "We will continue our work in this direction as well," he added.