The government first announced those plans in early September with a bill drafted by the Armenian Defense Ministry. It would reduce the length of the military duty for male citizens from 24 to 18 months.
The measure was initially due to take effect next summer. However, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced afterwards that it will apply to conscripts to be drafted from January 1 onwards. His critics portrayed this as further proof that it is designed to earn the ruling Civil Contract party more votes in the general elections expected in June 2026.
“That this is a pre-election step is beyond doubt for everyone,” Anna Grigorian of the main opposition Hayastan alliance said as Defense Minister Suren Papikian presented the bill to the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security.
Papikian denied this. Responding to another opposition member of the committee, Tigran Abrahamian, he again insisted that the shorter service will not downsize Armenia’s armed forces that already grappling with staffing problems. The resulting drop in the number of conscripts will be offset by more contract soldiers recruited in recent years, he said.
“Taking into account the trend of the last few years, we have approximate calculations of how much enlistment we will have after those to be drafted after January 1 are demobilized. And we see that our potential for increasing personnel will be substantially bigger,” added the minister.
But he refused to give any numbers. The parliament panel dominated by pro-government lawmakers formally approved the bill, paving the way for its passage by the National Assembly.
Opposition figures had previously dismissed such assurances, arguing that the Armenian military continues to regularly draft thousands of reservists for month-long combat duty on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Papikian admitted the military’s increased reliance on the reservist call-ups and indicated that it will continue unabated.
Critics have also accused Pashinian of bowing to Azerbaijan’s demands to downsize the Armenian army. In what they see as a related development, Pashinian’s government plans to cut Armenia’s defense expenditures by over 15 percent, to 563 billion drams ($1.47 billion), next year.
Senior Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly stated that Armenia’s “militarization” is one of the obstacles to peace between the two countries. One of them called last year for “restrictions” to be placed on the Armenian armed forces.
