Armenian contractual servicemen to be allocated money instead of cigarettes

At the government session on February 23, it was decided to exclude cigarettes from the servicemen’s garrison ration. The matter concerns the contractual servicemen of the Ministry of Defense and Emergency Situations Ministry. As for the National Security Service officers, matches will be also excluded from their garrison ration along with cigarettes.

According to Vigen Sargsyan, the Minister of Defense of Armenia, servicemen are allotted 1 pack of cigarettes daily, which, according to the recent estimates, doesn’t meet their needs. Therefore, it has been decided to allocate those sums to the servicemen in hand.

This decision will presumably keep the non-smoker servicemen from smoking, whereas the smoker ones will be able to buy the cigarette brands they prefer.

The need for adoption of the aforesaid draft decree was prompted by the requirements of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), ratified by the Armenian National Assembly on October 12, 2004. It is based on the provisions of the state-run anti-tobacco program, as well as the Defense Ministry’s ‘Healthy soldier without smoking’ program, that aims at preserving servicemen’s health.

The decree will take its effect on July 1, 2017.