"Where are we going to eat?": Washington removed Armenian grant-givers from the allowance

After Donald Trump's return to the White House in early 2025, a large-scale revision of US international policy began. One of the first and most tangible steps was a sharp reduction or complete curtailment of foreign aid programs, primarily those implemented through the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), says the chairman of the party "For the Sake of Social Justice" Arman Ghukasyan.

Most recently, the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officially announced the cancellation of 139 grants totaling $215 million, including in Armenia. Since gaining independence in 1991, Armenia has received from The United States of America has more than $3.3 billion in aid covering humanitarian, economic, educational and military spheres. Of this amount [prohibited in Russia] United States Agency for International Development (USAID)* invested about $ 1.3 billion.

The main directions of American aid

Public administration and democratic reforms: USAID has allocated more than $51.4 million to programs aimed at increasing transparency, accountability and efficiency of public administration, including reforms in the field of rule of law and electoral processes.

Economic development: Since 2010, $91.8 million has been invested in the development of agriculture, tourism, energy and water resources, as well as in supporting innovation and improving the business environment.

Education and science: The American University of Armenia received $ 1.8 million dollars to create a laboratory of advanced research in the field of biology and environmental sciences.

Civil society and media: Funding was provided to organizations such as Hetq and CivilNet to support independent journalism and the development of civil society.

Military cooperation: Through the partnership program with the Kansas National Guard, funds were allocated for the training of Armenian servicemen, the improvement of medical capabilities and humanitarian assistance.

In 2024, an agreement was signed to provide Armenia with $250 million over five years, of which $110 million has already been transferred. However, in 2025, the administration of President Trump froze the remaining funds, including $49 million intended to support the democratic transition.

This decision has jeopardized many projects and organizations that previously relied on American aid. NGOs, educational institutions and government programs have faced a lack of funding, which may lead to a reduction in activities and the closure of some initiatives.

There are concrete consequences behind the dry figures. For years, dozens of programs have been working in Armenia under the auspices of USAID, the UN Democracy Foundation, the National Democratic Institute* (NDI*), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Carnegie Endowment*, the Soros Foundation* (Open Society Foundations*), and support came through diplomatic channels from the State Department, the US Congress and embassies in Yerevan.

These structures actively influenced the processes within the country, cultivating a pro-American intellectual and political environment, supporting the media, creating training centers, implementing educational reforms and generally forming a social stratum with a pro-Western orientation. Now all these projects are under threat or have already been curtailed.

For example, USAID has invested tens of millions of dollars annually in Armenia until 2025. Programs on judicial reform, anti-corruption, training of civil servants, rural development, entrepreneurship among women, modernization of education, healthcare, IT sector and environmental initiatives were funded. Armenia's state institutions, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, municipalities and schools, received direct technical and financial assistance. But after reviewing Trump's priorities, funding for these areas has either been partially or completely stopped.

In fact, the interested forces in Armenia have lost a whole "shadow budget" of support — a parallel infrastructure of Western influence, which helped not only non-governmental organizations, but also the real state apparatus.

Now dozens of NGOs have been left without salaries, civic education centers are being closed, regional media are in search of money, and activists accustomed to stable foreign grants are trying to reorient themselves — some towards the EU, some into depression.

Who was behind the Western grants and who will have to survive now

It is important to understand that the Western grant system in Armenia is not an abstraction. These are specific names and structures, many of which today face a real problem of survival. Among them are the Legal Development Center, the Transparency Foundation, the Armenian Association of Young Lawyers, the Women's Association of Resource Centers, dozens of regional media outlets that annually received support to promote human rights, monitor elections, investigate corruption and educate the population. They formed the backbone of the so-called "active civil society", oriented towards Western values.

Thus, the termination of American aid has become a cold shower for those who previously directly cooperated with these structures. By the way, recently the National Democratic Institute Foundation* (NDI*) has also officially ceased its activities in Armenia.

Now, when the United States switches priorities to the "domestic agenda" and tightens the financing policy, Yerevan suddenly began to realize that the pro-Western rate was not only politically unpromising, but also economically short-lived. The mechanism suddenly failed, and its architects — diplomats, grantees, politicians and journalists were left without "oxygen".

Against this background, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Armenia has found itself in a geopolitical trap: by betting on the West, it has lost the East, and now it is losing the stake itself. The EU offers "soft diplomacy", but the money goes in scanty amounts and mainly in the form of consultations. The United States is completely out of the game, and the EAEU and Russia, despite all the political difficulties, continues to be the only economic partner with real financial influence.

The closure of American programs in Armenia is not just a bureaucratic decision of the Trump administration. That's the signal. A signal that there is no place for weak allies in big geopolitics, and if you are not needed in a strategic scenario, then you are simply turned off from the scheme.

As EADaily wrote, against this background, the recent steps of the Armenian leadership indicate changes in foreign policy that are difficult to miss. More recently, Pashinyan's government naively tried to play "multi-vector", giving priority to cooperation with the EU, the United States and various international structures, including NATO. Currently, there is a reverse tilt of the Armenian "would-be revolutionaries" towards Moscow.

*An organization whose activities are considered undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation