Reducing Military Service to One and a Half Years Will Likely Decrease the Number of Draft Dodgers

YEREVAN — “This draft law is long overdue,” said military expert Karen Hovhannisyan in an interview with Zarkerak.am, commenting on the Ministry of Defense’s proposal to shorten mandatory military service by six months.

According to Hovhannisyan, the term should not be limited to one and a half years but should eventually be reduced to one year. “It is very important to understand one thing: the army must primarily be considered an environment for 18–20-year-old young men to acquire a military profession. This is widely accepted and practiced around the world. We must reach a point where we remove 18–20-year-olds from the front lines and instead deploy a professional, paid service staff. In this respect, I value the transition from two years to one and a half years of service, as it will also somewhat reduce the number of people avoiding military duty.”

The expert emphasized that the world, in addition to being filled with modern technology, is constantly changing its defense tactics. “Our region is in a constant state of war. Having numbers without combat-ready troops in a short period of time means a series of defeats. Therefore, we need to prepare combat-ready forces so that today’s 18-year-old remains capable of fighting at 25. If we conscript a person with medical conditions into the army, he should not worsen his health through heavy physical strain. Instead, he should be taught tactics.”

Speaking about contract soldiers and the attractiveness of this career path, Hovhannisyan said: “We will face a shortage of soldiers in the army unless we take the next step, which is making the institution of paid service more attractive—not only through salaries but also by providing various forms of social support and benefits.”

Hovhannisyan stressed that this initiative is another step toward building a professional army. “Although the proposal was introduced during the pre-election period and unfortunately gives rise to political speculation, it should not be viewed in a purely political context.”

Incidentally, the adoption of this bill is expected to reduce expenditures on mandatory military service starting from 2028.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also noted that in 2025, compared to the 2024 budget, Armenia experienced a disproportionate increase in defense spending. “If not for the sharp increase of 115 billion drams in 2025, we would have seen a natural growth in 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. The fact that no growth is projected for 2026 is directly related to this,” he said.