The 52-year-old tycoon has made no secret of his strong support for Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, who took office in September 2016 and has a reputation as a technocratic reformist.
While the defense minister refused to specify exactly how the budget growth would be allocated, he did suggest the increase would be utilized for new weapons systems for the Armenian military.
The widespread outrage underscores the disconnect between hardened public perceptions of the conflict and diplomatic proposals that have long been the subject of negotiations in the effort to resolve it.
Following April’s elections, Armenia now has four ethnic minority MPs – one each from the country’s Yezidi, Assyrian, Kurdish, and Russian communities – in its 105-seat parliament.
