2.1 Alongside traditional threats, rapid and unanticipated changes in the contemporary world order and security architecture bring forth new challenges for Armenia. 2.2 International relations display trends of weakening security systems, expressed in particular through increasing competition between states that have played a major role in maintaining global security, eroding arms control regimes, intensifying arms races, weakening multilateral platforms, as well as increasing inclinations to resolve conflicts through the use of force. Meanwhile, the evident trends of emerging new power centers intensify international rivalry, further contributing to the use of force. 2.3 Tensions between international and regional power centers and institutions detrimentally affect the prospect of Armenia’s cooperation with them. Concurrently, some regional states’ aspirations to play a more active role threatens to destabilize the existing balance of power and jeopardizes regional stability. 2.4 The fragmented and non-inclusive development of transportation, energy, and communications infrastructure deepens regional divisions, and subsequently contributes to regional instability. 2.5 Security threats in the modern world often appear in the form of hybrid warfare, including not only military elements, but also the use of economic means, cyber attacks, fake news, and disinformation. 2.6 Armenia is also concerned about a weakening commitment to democracy and human rights in the region and in the world. 2.7 Unresolved conflicts continue to loom over the sustainable development of regional states. Azerbaijan’s unconstructive position periodically frustrates and threatens the process of peaceful resolution for the Artsakh conflict, expressed through inclinations to resolve the conflict through the use or threat of force, an expansionist and uncompromising stance, unequivocal claims over the territory of the Republic of Armenia, Armenophobic policies, and the distortion of history. The adversary’s desire to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by military means, manifested in military actions unleashed against Artsakh in April 2016, as well as continual ceasefire violations, acts of incursion, military build-up, and the movement of troops, coupled with military exercises at both the Artsakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border, all pose an immediate threat to Armenia. The continuous military build-up of a state that professes a hostile policy toward Armenia and Artsakh jeopardizes regional peace and stability. NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY OF RA | 5