Armenia takes risks for the sake of empty ambitions

Armenia increases defense spending. Over $1.7 billion will be spent on militarization in the state budget next year, Finance Minister Hovhannisyan announced in parliament. Thus, Armenia's defense spending will amount to 6 percent of national GDP.

According to international reports, the Republic of Armenia's military spending has almost tripled since 2020. Let's open the CIA's World Factbook and see how Yerevan's spending on military purposes has increased:

5% of GDP (2020 estimate)

4.4% of GDP (estimated 2021)

4.3% of GDP (estimated 2022)

5.6% of GDP (estimated 2023)

5.3% of GDP (estimated 2024)

According to American analysts, Armenia spent the most on militarization in 2023. But 2025 promises to be a record in this regard. In 2024, this country took the 7th place in the ranking of states in terms of the share of defense spending in GDP.

A month ago, Armenia announced its intention to increase next year's military budget by 20 percent. Yerevan has big plans. The budget revenues that have grown fantastically due to re-export allow the Armenian side to arrange an arms race and try to catch up with Azerbaijan. No one knows when the gift of fate in the form of war in Ukraine will exhaust itself, and Yerevan is in a hurry to collect as much as possible before this cornucopia closes. Despite the optimistic forecasts of Armenian economists, they cannot but understand that if the Third World War does not break out, the current conflict will end sooner or later, the geo-economic situation will begin to improve, and then Armenia will have a hard time. In order not to suffer a crisis, today the Armenian government should direct, as they said in Soviet times, unearned income for the development and uplift of the country, and not for weapons, which are unlikely to be useful to Armenia. No one is making plans to attack this country, no one is threatening it except herself. Armenia's biggest problem is its own politics and the constant search for guardians. Even the head of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Edward Asryan, admitted that at the moment he does not see the danger of military escalation with Azerbaijan. Let's finish for Asryan what he could not say: even if there was a threat, Armenia would not be able to resist it. And the Armenians are very lucky to have such peaceful neighbors.

As for the arms race, Armenia will not be able to win it in any case. At least because Azerbaijan has achieved today's results systematically, systematically, in stages, and not chaotically in the desire to catch up and overtake someone. The creation of the armed forces and ensuring the security of the country is a strategic goal, the achievement of which requires a lot of effort and patience. In addition, our country has more resources and more opportunities. And it will always be like this.

In 2025, the total amount of defense and security spending will amount to 8 billion 396.3 million manats. Due to the increase in revenue and expenditure forecasts in the new version of the state budget, expenditures in these areas were increased by 1.7 billion. manats. Of the total expenditures, more than 2.5 billion will be spent on the needs of the armed forces, about 500 million on national security, and about 550 million on strengthening the border guard service. He plans to spend more than 5 million on research in the field of defense and national security. And more than 4.7 billion will be allocated to other activities related to defense and security.

If Armenia sees at least some opportunity to keep up with these indicators, the flag is in their hands.

How exactly Yerevan is going to catch up and overtake Azerbaijan can be judged by the geography of the countries that involve it in military cooperation. The head of the General Staff, Asryan, said that Armenia "actively cooperates with American partners on all aspects related to defense." He modestly kept silent about the details, but it is known that American instructors are already working in the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia. When Asryan talks about cooperation with the United States in the military-technical sphere, he also means hopes of someday obtaining American weapons. Insiders of the Armenian Telegram channels claim that such weapons are already arriving in Armenia. This information is also confirmed by the data available to the Azerbaijani media. It is noteworthy that both the Armenian and American sides try not to advertise this fact.

Meanwhile, India does not hide its efforts to militarize Armenia. Recently it became known that Delhi has amended laws related to the export of missiles, in particular ballistic, cruise missiles and UAVs. The Indian Ministry of Defense has given permission for the sale of quasi-ballistic Pralay missiles to Armenia. This information, which appeared in the Armenian media, was also confirmed by Indian resources. However, the name of Armenia is not mentioned, it is said about a "friendly country". We know what kind of friendly country this is. According to information from the Indian media, it is planned to conclude a deal for the supply of these missiles to Yerevan in the near future. This would not have been possible without amendments to the legislation, since the law prohibits the export of missiles with a range of more than 300 km and warheads weighing more than 500 kg.

Earlier, Armenia shared with India the desire to buy long-range or, in extreme cases, long-range missiles from it. The Pralay missile has a range of 150 to 500 km and can be launched from a mobile installation. Serial production of these weapons began only in 2023, and Armenia may become their first buyer.

If India even changes the laws in order to sell missiles to Yerevan, there are many questions. It is possible that India is being pushed to do this for something. Now there is a certain community with vague geographical outlines, but a very clearly defined center - in Armenia. This country has been chosen as a springboard for the destabilization of the region and the clash of interests of the powers. Simply put, Armenia is being armed for slaughter. Yerevan became one of the three largest buyers of Indian weapons, along with such powers as the United States and France. Isn't it true that this trio looks very harmonious together. Let's assume that Armenia was pushed into the Indian market by these new friends of hers. And not only in Indian. The United States and France do not want to waste time on Armenia, and India has been entrusted with dealing with it, which cannot stand Azerbaijan and Turkiye and will agree to caress the sister of Paris and Washington. In addition to the purchase of missiles, Armenia hopes for India's help in modernizing Russian-made fighter jets. Yerevan also hopes to get Indian guided air-to-ground munitions and so on.

According to Armenian officials, all weapons acquired by Armenia are exclusively defensive in nature. It's even embarrassing to call a ballistic missile capable of carrying a 500-kilogram nuclear warhead and called "doomsday" in Hindi a defensive weapon.

Every country has the right to build armed forces and buy weapons from whomever it wants. The world doesn't care that a poor, literally decaying country called Armenia, instead of patching its holes, is trying to arm itself and make formidable eyebrows. And we wouldn't care about it either if this impoverished and aggressive country with a society agitated by unhealthy ideas wasn't located next door to us. The militarization of Armenia is a threat to the region, because people in this country do not know how to live without fantasies.

Tell me, why is Armenia, if you believe Pashinyan, who dreams of peace and brotherhood with its neighbors, armed with such weapons? So that you can reach Baku next time, if you get the chance? No? Not for this? Honestly? And then for what? No matter how much it raises the defense budget, no matter how much it spends, no matter how comfortable the benefits and discounts made especially for it by arms sellers, Armenia will never become stronger than Azerbaijan anyway.

Flooding a country with weapons in which the economy is bad, laws are weak and revanchism is flourishing is like throwing a cigarette butt at a powder magazine.