Armenia launches joint military drills with the US amid souring ties with old ally Russia
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia began joint military exercises with the United States on Monday, a move that reflects the leader’s efforts to forge closer ties with the US and other Western allies as the country’s relations with longtime ally Russia deteriorate.
According to Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, the Eagle Partner war games are aimed at increasing the interoperability of units participating in international peacekeeping missions.
They included Armenian peacekeepers, U.S. Army Europe and Africa troops and the Kansas National Guard. It was not immediately clear how many troops were participating.
The exercises were scheduled to last until July 24.
Russia has been Armenia’s main economic partner and ally since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Landlocked Armenia, a former Soviet Union member, has a Russian military base and is part of the Moscow-led security alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
However, Armenia’s ties with Russia have come under increasing strain since Azerbaijan launched a lightning-fast attack military campaign to take the Karabakh region last year, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule there.
Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers sent to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 after an earlier round of hostilities of failing to stop Azerbaijanās attack. Moscow rejected the accusations, saying its forces had no mandate to intervene.
Russia is engaged in a delicate balancing act: trying to maintain close ties with Armenia while maintaining warm ties with Azerbaijan and its main ally Turkey, a key economic partner for Moscow amid Western sanctions.
The Kremlin has been angry at Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s efforts to deepen Armenia’s ties with the West and distance his country from Moscow-dominated alliances. Russia was particularly irked by Armenia’s decision to join the International Criminal Court, which was struck last year Russian President Vladimir Putin Indicted for alleged war crimes related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
As the gap with Russia widened, Armenia grew. froze his participation in the Russia-dominated security alliance, canceled its participation in joint military exercises and ignored the bloc’s summits.
In September 2023, the āEagle Partnerā exercises were also held in Armenia, causing dismay in Moscowwhere officials called the measure “unfriendly.”