Pashinyan credits legitimacy for 'unlimited' available foreign defense markets

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday credited legitimacy for what he described as the “unlimited” foreign armament markets available to Armenia’s military for defensive purposes. 

He addressed military matters during the Comprehensive Security and Resilience 2025 International Conference in Yerevan.

“We’ve always said that we need a strong army,” Pashinyan noted. “But this is also one of those topics where we must ask ourselves: what does a strong army actually mean? Stronger than whom? One, two, three, or four potential adversaries?

If it turns out that one nominal adversary is supported by two or three other powerful actors, that this entire strategy could be rendered meaningless,” he said, adding that the term “strong” must be clarified — does it mean strong alone, or strong together with allies?

“If it means together with allies, dozens of questions arise. If it means without allies, questions arise here too. Therefore, there is an urgent need to clarify our terminology,” Pashinyan said.
He emphasized that articulating the military’s core objective stems from this line of questioning.

“The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia have no tasks beyond the country’s internationally recognized borders. Their objective is to protect the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia. This is strategy of legitimacy in the context of the military,” Pashinyan said, highlighting the tangible outcomes of this approach.
“In the past, Armenia’s access to weapons and armaments markets was highly limited — not only geographically, but also in terms of availability. Today, our markets are essentially unlimited. Why? Because no country discussing military-technical cooperation with us has to worry that the weapons could be used for illegitimate international purposes.

No one can dispute Armenia’s right to defend its sovereign, internationally recognized territory. This is undisputable,” he concluded.