Pashinyan says military rebuilt from scratch, replacing outdated arsenal

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Tuesday that his administration created the country’s military from scratch.

Speaking at a campaigning event for the Civil Contract party in Meghradzor, Kotayk Province, Pashinyan said that his administration inherited the “ruins” of a military from previous governments.

He said that the upcoming military parade, scheduled to take place on Republic Day, May 28, in Republic Square in central Yerevan, will showcase defense acquisitions made since 2022.

Pashinyan said the military parade will serve as a “report” to citizens.

“They have spread so many rumors that we destroyed the army. We did not destroy the army; we set aside what they called an army, which was actually a ruin, and built an army from scratch. Come to Republic Square and see that army,” the prime minister told voters.

According to him, around 90 percent of the military equipment that will be presented in the parade was acquired after 2022.

Pashinyan also noted that Armenia first received the D-30 artillery system, one of the main artillery assets of the Armenian Armed Forces, in factory-produced form in 2023, whereas in the past only second-hand systems were supplied to the country.

“We are the first users; it came straight from the factory to the Republic of Armenia,” he said.

He accused his predecessors of neglecting the military and equipping the armed forces with outdated weapons.

“Seventy percent of our army’s weapons were from the 1970s, 1960s, and 1950s,” Pashinyan stated.

According to him, after Armenia and Azerbaijan recognized each other’s territorial integrity, new opportunities have emerged for Armenia in international defense markets to acquire military equipment.

“When we recognized the territorial integrity of our neighbors, and our neighbors recognized ours, the arms market opened up for us, because it is a legitimate right to protect the security and inviolability of one’s own territory,” Pashinyan said.