Armenia launches joint military drills with the US amid souring ties with old ally Russia

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia on Monday launched joint military drills with the United States, a move that reflects its leader’s efforts to forge closer ties with the U.S. and other Western allies as the country’s relations with old ally Russia sour.

The “Eagle Partner” war games are aimed at increasing interoperability of units participating in international peacekeeping missions, according to Armenia’s Defense Minister Suren Papikyan.

They involve Armenian peacekeeping forces, servicemen of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa, and the Kansas National Guard. It wasn’t immediately clear how many troops were taking part.

The exercises were scheduled to last through July 24.

Russia has been Armenia’s main economic partner and ally since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Landlocked Armenia, which used to be part of the Soviet Union, hosts a Russian military base and is part of the Moscow-led security alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Armenia’s ties with Russia, however, have grown increasingly strained since Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign last year to take the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule there.

Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh after a previous round of hostilities in 2020 of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.

Russia has engaged in a delicate balancing act, trying to preserve close relations with Armenia while also maintaining warm ties with Azerbaijan and its main ally Turkey, a key economic partner for Moscow amid Western sanctions.

The Kremlin has been angered by 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 vexed by Armenia’s decision to join the International Criminal Court, which last year indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes connected to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

As the rift with Russia kept widening, Armenia froze its participation in the Russian-dominated security alliance, canceled its involvement in joint military drills and snubbed the bloc’s summits.

In September 2023, Armenia also held the “Eagle Partner” drills, eliciting dismay in Moscow, where officials called the move “unfriendly.”

By AVET DEMOURIAN
Associated Press