Financial aid for forcibly displaced Artsakh residents in Armenia to be reduced

YEREVAN, November 21. /ARKA/. At a meeting on Thursday, the Armenian government decided to reduce the financial assistance allocated to forcibly displaced residents of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Currently, refugees who do not own property in Armenia receive monthly financial assistance of 40,000 drams for housing rental, plus an additional 10,000 drams for utility costs.

According to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Narek Mkrtchyan, starting from April 2025, assistance will be provided only to minors, pensioners, individuals who have lost a breadwinner, and persons with disabilities of groups I or II.

The amount of assistance provided is also being reduced to 40,000 drams. Starting in July 2025, the assistance will be further reduced to 30,000 drams.

According to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, these changes are intended to encourage able-bodied refugees to find employment.

About ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh

On September 19-20, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale aggression against Artsakh using artillery, UAVs and combat aircraft. On September 28, following negotiations with the Azerbaijani side, Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan issued a decree that all state institutions of the republic would be dissolved and that the Republic of Artsakh would cease to exist from January 1, 2024.

Residents of Artsakh were forced to leave their homeland and moved to Armenia. According to the Armenian government, more than 115 thousand Artsakh residents have been registered. To assist them, the Armenian government is implementing a number of programs. -0-